Red Sword of Damocles
by Dusk Dreaming
Summary: A police chief is killed and a strange message causes the Titans to investigate. Dark dealings in the corridors of power mean the whole city is working against them. An old enemy plots their destruction. Some AU.
1. A Strange Message

For what felt like the hundredth time, Alec Mien reread the glowing computer screen. The evidence was staring him in the face, though part of him still refused to believe it. If it were true, and he was sure now that it was, it meant that he couldn't trust anyone any more. This was too big for him to handle on his own. He was already in grave danger, and his family… please, please let them be safe.

There was only one place he could go for help. He needed the Titans, and he needed to see them in person. He couldn't rely on electronic communications, they'd probably already tapped his phone lines and his computer. At least he knew that Robin was incorruptible. Thank God there was still one person in this city he could believe in.

Carefully, he made backup copies of the data and sent them to various sites before shutting the computer down. Then he left the office.

The parking lot was empty, everyone else having headed home hours ago. Nervously, he kept looking around, but as far as he could see he was all alone. He was probably just being paranoid. There was no way they could be on to him that fast. Could they?

He hesitated when he reached his car. He was probably being too cautious, but what if they'd set up a car bomb? Maybe it was best to take the subway. But he needed to be at Titans Tower as soon as possible. No, he would just have to risk it.

He started the car with no problems, and breathed a sigh of relief. Now it was just a matter of –

"Alec Mien?"

There was someone in the car with him. "Holy shit! How did you -"

"It's my job."

A sudden silence, a spray of blood, and Jump City's Deputy Police Chief was no more.

* * *

><p>The early morning sunlight glanced off the waves in the bay, turning each rolling swell into diamond dust.<p>

Robin sat on the edge of the tower roof, watching the city in the distance. This was his city, the one he was sworn to protect, the one thing that gave his life purpose and meaning. Except when it didn't.

He spent every day of his life fighting, and for what? It never made any difference. At this very moment down there, someone was being stabbed, someone being shot, someone losing a loved one. The harder the Titans fought, the more powerful the enemies they made. At the end of the day, what had they really accomplished?

He had wanted people to feel safe in this city, to look up at Titans Tower with a feeling of pride and comfort, knowing that justice was being served. But people weren't safe, and they never would be, no matter how hard he tried.

What were the Titans for, then, if they couldn't keep people safe? All these battles, the worried days and sleepless nights… were they just entertainment, like Slade said? Was it all just a meaningless farce?

He wasn't supposed to have thoughts like this. He was the leader of the Titans, the one people looked up to. He was supposed to be confident and self-assured, to set an example and keep everyone's spirits up. Heroes didn't have self-doubt. They believed in themselves all the time. Did Batman ever feel like this? No, that cold… man… was incapable of feeling anything. That was how he survived, by killing his emotions. Was that how Robin would end up?

He heard the door sliding open, the sound of soft footsteps against the roof. He knew those steps, and his heart lightened as they came closer.

"Robin?" Starfire's voice was filled with concern. "I knew you would be here."

There was a moment of silence, no noise but the breeze sighing in from the bay, carrying the scent of salt. Starfire sat beside him, the wind playing with strands of her hair.

"Are you having the sad thoughts?" she asked, turning her big green eyes towards him.

Robin remained still, staring into the distance.

"No," he said. "Heroes don't have sad thoughts."

"Everyone has them sometimes. Shall I make some Pudding of Sadness to ease your mind?"

"No thanks. I don't think it'll help. Besides, I'm not sad."

"It is difficult to read your feelings, because your face is always hidden by that mask. But your body looks sad to me."

Robin shook his head.

"I'm not sad," he repeated. "There're so many people out there who're being hurt. I still have my health, my job. People look up to me. I'm famous. It'd be really selfish of me to indulge in self-pity."

Starfire moved closer to him. "You are the least selfish person I know," she said emphatically.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Robin, you spend every second of every day worrying about the people of this city, the other Titans... and me. You wish to make the world a better place."

Robin heaved a sigh. "How do you know I do all that for other people? Maybe I just do it for myself. Maybe I like the attention. Maybe it makes me feel special. Maybe I'm just selfish."

"Robin… why are you speaking this way? Have you been having the dreams of Slade again?"

"What difference does it make? Maybe Slade knows me better than you do."

"Robin…" Starfire touched his arm, but he pulled away. "You should rest. Depriving yourself of sleep will not help you to function efficiently. Today will be a busy day."

_Beep-beep-beep. _

Robin pulled out his communicator and flipped it open. Cyborg's face appeared on the screen.

"Morning, Robin. Hate to spoil your weekend, but we've got a situation."

"What is it, Cy?"

"A message. I think you'd better come down to the control room and see it."

"On my way." Robin replaced his communicator in his belt and rose to his feet. "Well, you heard what Cy said. We have a situation."

Starfire nodded. "You go ahead. I will be there shortly."

Robin turned and raced across the rooftop. When he reached the door, he hesitated for a moment and looked at Starfire where she sat on the roof's edge, looking as dejected as Robin had felt.

"You okay, Star?" he called.

"Yes," she replied, without moving.

Robin nodded and slipped through the door.

Starfire sat and watched the light playing on the waves down in the bay. She wasn't sad. Heroes weren't allowed to have sad thoughts.

* * *

><p>When Robin entered the control room, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven were already there.<p>

"You took your time," Beast Boy said, yawning and stretching. "Where's Star?"

"She'll be down in a minute." Robin strode over to the main controls where Cyborg waited before the main screen. "What have you got for me?"

"Ooh, were you and Starfire having a _moment_?" Beast Boy asked, giggling. "I hope we didn't interrupt anything between you and your hot alien girlfriend." Beast Boy started making kissing noises.

"Grow up," Raven growled.

"What's the matter, Bride of Frankenstein? Obviously you didn't get your beauty sleep."

"Why don't you turn into a monkey? You might develop near-human intelligence."

Robin ignored their bickering and looked pointedly at Cyborg, who began tapping on the keypad.

"I've been in here since five," Cyborg said. "I thought I'd get up early and make sure all our systems are in working order, you know, what with the review coming up and everything."

Robin nodded.

"I've been deleting, reformatting, reconfiguring and patching up all our programs. I managed to free up about a thousand gigs on the hard drive by erasing Beast Boy's collection of… ahem… inappropriate Nicki Minaj pictures."

"You did what?" Beast Boy shrieked.

"Don't worry, I didn't touch any of your other stuff."

Raven gave Beast Boy a look of contempt. "Just when I thought my opinion of you could sink no lower."

"Don't judge me!" Beast Boy snapped. "It's not what you're thinking! I was only looking at them because she had green hair!"

"Yes, I'm sure her hair was all you were looking at." Raven shook her head.

Cyborg went on, "I cleared out our email accounts, too. The public one is mostly full of spam and stuff, which I deleted. Except for a few which I saved for Beast Boy, because they promised to enlarge a certain part of the anatomy, and I thought he could use that." Cyborg snickered at Beast Boy.

"Hey! I don't need your stinking emails. They don't call me _Beast _Boy for nothing." Beast Boy waggled his eyebrows suggestively, before transforming into a giant anaconda.

"Looks like you're overcompensating for something," Raven observed dryly. "Other than your brainpower, I mean."

The anaconda hissed and bared its fangs at her. A moment later, the door slid open and Starfire walked in.

"Good the morning, friends," she said. "I hope I did not miss anything of importance."

"You didn't," Robin said shortly. "Beast Boy's just been fooling around." He turned back to Cyborg. "Is there a point to all this? Or did you call me here just to talk about stupid emails?"

"The point is this," Cyborg said. "About half an hour ago I got this message on one of our secure channels." He tapped a few keys, and the following words appeared onscreen:

TITANS, THE CITY HAS NEED OF YOU

ALEC MIEN DIED FOR THE TRUTH

BEWARE TRUST NO ONE

HE IS WATCHING

θ/

Robin read the message a couple of times, searching for clues, committing it to memory.

"Alec Mien," he said. "He's the Deputy Police Chief."

"He _was. _I found this online." Cyborg opened another window, a news article. The headline read: _Deputy Police Chief Killed, Mugger Suspected_.

"When did this happen?" Robin asked, as he scanned the article.

"A few hours ago. They don't know exactly when. There hasn't been time for a full exam of the body."

Three paragraphs into the article, Robin found what he was looking for. The body had been found dumped in an alley. Its throat had been slashed, probably by a knife.

"Who sent the message?" Robin asked.

"No idea," Cyborg replied. "I tried to trace it, but all I could find out was that the message came from inside Jump City. Their IP address was linked to a government server, but I bet they hacked into it to hide their identity."

"You said this was sent to a secure channel."

"Yup."

"Who knows the number?"

"Uh, let's see. The police department. The mayor's office. Some superhero teams. A few others. The full list of contacts should be around here somewhere."

"Then we'll start there. Whoever sent this message is on that list."

"Unless they stole the address or hacked into our system. And even if they are on the list, there're going to be a lot of suspects."

"But it's better than nothing. You work on finding out where that message came from. Raven, Beast Boy and I are going to pay a visit to the police department. Starfire will hold the tower and respond to any emergencies."

"Is this the best course of action, Robin?" Raven asked. "You know the police are sensitive about us interfering with their jurisdiction. There doesn't seem to have been any meta-human activity in Alec Mien's murder. Maybe it was just a mugging. This could be just a prank email. There are plenty of losers out there trying to waste our time with hoaxes and false threats. Maybe we should report this to the police, let them handle it."

"No." Robin glanced back at the message on the screen. _Titans, the city has need of you. Trust no one. _"I have a feeling about this. I need to check it out."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

This story may contain strong violence, strong coarse language, drug references, sex scenes, homosexuality, nudity, adult references, and lots of other mature themes. Please don't read if any of these make you uncomfortable.


	2. Trouble on the Street

As Cyborg busied himself with the computer, his fingers flying over the keypad in a metallic blur, Starfire paced back and forth in the control room with her arms folded across her chest.

"I am worried about Robin," she said in a small voice. "Does he seem different to you?"

"He's been under a lot of pressure lately," Cyborg replied. "Well, he's always under a lot of pressure. Dude needs to learn how to chill out once in a while."

"This 'chilling out' is a form of temperature regulation?" Starfire clasped her hands and gave Cyborg a look of concern. "You believe Robin to be suffering from the fever?"

"No, Star. Chilling out is when you take a break from your job. You just relax and do something you enjoy."

"I see. But Robin enjoys working."

"He does. But it's not good to do the same thing for too long without taking a break. You burn yourself out."

"And this 'burning out' -"

"No, Star. That's not overheating. It means that when you're tired, you can't think straight, your energy is down, you feel angry and irritable, you can't concentrate or do anything efficiently. Like, take this computer." Cyborg gestured at the controls. "When it's been running for too long, it starts to slow down. Its RAM and working memory are all full and its processor can't execute programs as well as it should. Especially with all the crap Beast Boy's been downloading. Every once in a while you need to shut the whole thing down, give it a rest, reboot a few programs. See?"

Starfire thought for a few moments.

"Oh, I see!" she said brightly. "It is similar to when a Fitsakian worm has been milked too much and can no longer lactate until it replenishes its supply of Molka weed."

Cyborg frowned. "Uh… yeah. We'll go with that."

"But what should we do? I feel we should help Robin somehow."

Cyborg's fingers slowed their dance on the keys. "Maybe you worry about him too much. Robin's a tough guy. He's been through a lot, and he knows how to survive. He can look after himself." Cyborg took his eyes from the screen long enough to give Starfire a kind look. "Try not to worry, okay, Star?"

Starfire sighed. "If only Robin would speak to me about his feelings. He believes he has to keep all his pain on the inside. Sharing these things can make us feel better."

"Boo-yah!" Cyborg pumped his fist in the air and grinned. "Our mystery messenger's not smart as he thought he was."

"Good news?"

"I'm tracing the address. I'll have the source soon."

"Robin will be pleased." Starfire turned her eyes upward. "I wonder if they have found anything yet. Robin will need to be back for the inspection."

"If he doesn't get back in time, the two of us can always handle it."

Suddenly, red light flashed overhead and an insistent buzzing noise pierced the tower. Starfire knew that sound well.

"Trouble," Cyborg said.

Starfire nodded. "I am ready for it."

* * *

><p>"Dude, why do we have to walk?" Beast Boy grumbled.<p>

They were about a block from police headquarters in the centre of Jump's business district, the heart of the city. Robin was in the lead, taking measured steps as he scanned his surroundings, his arms held loosely by his sides, ready for action. Beast Boy was slouching along on Robin's left, looking like he'd be more at home in one of his animal forms. To Robin's right was Raven, shrouded in her blue cloak with her hood raised, her features hidden in shadow.

Despite the earliness of the hour, the streets were already packed with commuters heading to and from work, shoppers, tourists, tramps and some partygoers who had yet to return home from clubbing the night before. The sounds of conversation and laughter mingled with the rumbling of engines and music blaring from the shopfront speakers. The air was scented with hot food, diesel, flowers, and, in the case of some unfortunate alleyways beside pubs and clubs, vomit and other bodily products.

"You know why," Robin said. He had asked Raven to transport them from Titans Tower into the city, a couple of blocks from their destination, so they could walk the rest of the way and check out how things were going at street level. "The city's head may be the town hall, but its pulse, its heartbeat, is the street. Batman always said that if you want to protect a city, first you have to know it. Know its people. Not just the people in charge, the politicians and police chiefs and superheroes and CEOs. The little people, the real people, the people on the street. At the end of the day, they _are _the city. They're the ones you're fighting to protect. If you don't have them on your side, you've already failed. If you lose touch with them, nothing you accomplish means anything."

If you wanted to know a city, you had to listen to what the streets were telling you. And right now, what they were telling Robin was that things were as bad as he'd feared.

"Robin?" Raven said.

"I know, Raven," Robin said quietly. "I feel it too." He didn't need Raven's powers to sense the emotions of the people around them. As the three Titans walked through the streets, they attracted looks of curiosity, worry and outright hostility. People stopped and stared, pointed and muttered darkly, their expressions troubled. There was anger and suspicion bubbling in the crowd around them, and the Titans were attracting it like lightning rods in the middle of a storm.

"Uh, is it just me," Beast Boy asked, "or do I get the feeling that people aren't that happy to see us?"

"It's not just you." Robin quickened his pace. It was stupid of him to have brought them here, but he had wanted to see the life of the city unrolling around him, just like in the old days. Of course, in the old days, people had treated them like heroes. Now there was so much trouble brewing, it was dangerous for anyone to step out onto the streets. At least Batman had the luxury of a civilian identity. The Titans were instantly recognisable, and they had lots of enemies.

He had put his friends in danger by insisting that they walk to their destination. What if some idiots in the crowd attacked them? Sure, the three of them were more than a match for any of the ordinary humans here, but that wasn't the point. If they were forced to defend themselves – to use violence against Jump City's people – they would instantly lose the respect of the public. The media would have a field day. Robin could just see the headlines now: _Teen Titans, sworn to defend Jump's citizens - or attack them? When there's trouble, you know who to blame. _Or worse, if they retreated: _With their superpowers they unite… always run away from every fight._

Tactically, it was a no-win situation. He wasn't supposed to make such stupid decisions, but lately he'd been off his game. Next time a decision like this could cost his friends' lives. Some people might have made excuses for themselves. After all, Robin was under a lot of pressure, and villains like Slade, playing their psychological tricks, were bound to take their toll on even the most balanced mind. But Robin would never evade his responsibility. As he saw it, it was his duty as leader to make the right decisions, and if he failed, it was on his own shoulders.

"What's their problem?" Beast Boy huffed. "Don't these people know that we're the good guys? It's all the fault of those True Human League jerks and their anti-Titan propaganda."

"It's not just propaganda," said Robin. "People have a right to be angry with us. We let them down."

"What? Let them down? Dude, I can't even count the number of times we saved this city from destruction."

Raven spoke up. "But there were some things we couldn't save them from. Recession. Unemployment. Poverty. Homelessness. People look at us living comfortably in the Tower with our swimming pools and rec rooms and three square meals a day, and they say to themselves, what's so super about superheroes? They claim to defend the city, but what good are the Titans if they can't help me put food on the table or stop me from losing my job? And why do these teenagers have the right to live, partly taxpayer-funded, high in their Tower like gods, while we mere mortals have to struggle to survive in the street?"

"But that's so unfair!" exclaimed Beast Boy. "We may be superheroes, but we don't control the economy. How can people blame us for that? It doesn't make any kind of sense. If they want to blame someone, blame the bankers and politicians who got us into this mess."

"It doesn't have to make sense," replied Raven. "People are angry. They're looking for a scapegoat. Then along comes the True Human League, telling them that it's meta-humans who are the cause of all their problems, and if only the aliens and mutants and other freaks were rounded up and put in their place, all the world's troubles would magically disappear. It doesn't make sense, but it appeals to people's base emotions. And when they're hungry and tired and vulnerable, it doesn't take much to manipulate them."

"So what can we do to stop it?" Beast Boy asked desperately. "To make people see sense?"

Raven glanced at Robin, then looked away and shrugged. "That's… not for me to say."

The façade of Police Headquarters loomed above them.

"The first thing we're going to do, we're going to find out what happened to Alec Mien," Robin said grimly. "We focus on one thing at a time."

* * *

><p>Starfire landed gently beside a police car and rapped softly on the window. The man inside the car rolled the glass down and gave her a look that seemed unfriendly, although perhaps Starfire was merely misreading his human facial expression.<p>

"Yeah?" he grunted in a surly voice. No, Starfire had not misread his expression.

"Excuse me, law enforcement officer," Starfire said, "but I received an emergency signal from this location. What is the trouble?"

The officer shrugged. He was a heavyset man probably aged around forty human years, with grey-brown hair and a small beard. "There's some kind of fight going on in those apartments," he said, waving unconcernedly towards a run-down looking building about ten metres away. "Seems a few kids cornered a freak down there and are bashing the shit out of it."

Starfire frowned slightly. She mistrusted humans who casually used harsh language. She also did not like the way the man nonchalantly referred to the violence that was taking place, or the way that he stared at her chest.

"I assume by 'freak,' you mean a meta-human?" she said. "If the attackers are juvenile humans, why did you not apprehend them?"

The man leered, his gaze sliding down to Starfire's skirt before rising back to her chest. "There's a freak involved. It's your area of expertise. Besides, the city's paying you to fight crime, so why don't you do it?"

Starfire was angry, but she had more pressing things to do than stay and argue. Swiftly she rose into the air, sped towards the apartment and darted in through the open front door. She landed in the lobby and took in her surroundings.

The place looked poorly maintained. It was full of broken wooden furniture and the air was heavy with a musty, rotten smell. There was litter strewn all over the faded, stained off-white carpet, and the walls were sprayed with many-hued graffiti. A few worn wooden doors were set into the lobby's walls, and on the far side of the room a rickety wooden staircase wound its way up into the gloom.

Hearing muffled shouting and smashing sounds from somewhere above, she took flight and rapidly ascended towards the source of the disturbance, the floors flashing past her in a blur.

"Where're you going?"

"Kill the freak!"

Eight floors up, Starfire came to a halt and hovered in midair as the voices became clear. She saw someone huddled in a corner, shielding their head with their arms. Around the victim stood three youths, one of whom was holding a large piece of wood.

"Cease this assault immediately!" Starfire cried.

The youths spun around.

"Shit, it's the alien bitch!" one of them shouted.

"What do we do?" another asked.

The one armed with the piece of wood, who seemed to be the leader, waved his weapon in Starfire's direction. "You want some of this, alien bitch?" he yelled.

"No." Starfire clenched her right hand, and a brilliant green starbolt blazed into life around her fist. "Do you wish to have some of this?"

"Shit, man! I'm outta here." Two of the youths broke and ran. The leader stood his ground, but he seemed unsure of himself now that his friends had abandoned him.

"Lower your weapon and you will not be harmed," Starfire told him. He didn't move. "Very well. I will disarm you."

She swooped towards him, tugged the wood out of his hands, snapped it in two and tossed the pieces aside. Then she forced his hands behind his back and handcuffed him.

"Don't touch me, alien freak!" he screeched, as she wrestled him into the cuffs. "Earth is for humans! Go back where you came from, you Tamaranean slut!"

"You have the right to remain silent. I suggest you do so."

"Take your hands off me! I want a human cop!"

"You broke the law. You do not have the right to choose your law enforcement officer." With one hand, Starfire held him by the scruff of his neck, hovering out of reach of his kicks. She turned and extended her other hand to the person in the corner. "Are you all right? Do not be frightened. I am here now."

The boy raised his tear-streaked face. He looked to be in his early teens, with large dark eyes, smooth brown skin and close-cropped black hair. An ugly bruise was blooming on his right cheek, his eyes looked swollen and puffy, and blood trickled from the numerous cuts on his face and arms. Starfire had expected him to be grateful for her assistance. She wasn't prepared for the fear and hatred she saw in his eyes.

"Get away from me!" he cried. "I'm not like you! I'm a normal human!" Struggling to his feet, he took a few shaky steps, steadied himself, and began to race away.

"Wait!" Starfire called. "At least make a statement on the police report!" The boy ignored her, running until he was out of sight. Starfire didn't bother pursuing him. He was obviously frightened of her, and she was disheartened by the look of distrust in his eyes.

"Ha," said the handcuffed boy. "He didn't make a statement. Now you have to let me go."

"You are ignorant of the law. Soon that will be remedied. I will take you to the closest station of police." She landed behind the offender and began to march him along.

"Just you wait, alien scum," he gloated. "You might have won this battle, but we'll see who wins in the end. There's a war coming, and when it does, all you freaks are gonna get what's coming to you."

Starfire was silent. She tried to tell herself she wasn't troubled by his words, but she kept seeing the disgust in the eyes of the boy who'd run away. What did it mean when even the people they were helping were losing faith in them? Deep down, Starfire was afraid.

She wished Robin were here.


	3. Obstruction

Inside the police station, a bored constable looked up from his desk, did a double-take and leapt to his feet.

"Sir!" he gasped, staring at Robin like a deer caught in the headlights.

"No need to call me that," Robin said. From behind his mask, his eyes performed their usual sweep, roving up and down the constable's body, noting his height, weight, facial features and clothing and filing them away for future reference. "Where's Chief Marcus?"

"He's in a very important meeting."

"Tell him I need to see him. Now."

"He said no one was to disturb him –"

"_Now, _Constable Tariq_._"

The constable all but ran from the room, leaving the three Titans in the lobby with several police officers and an uncomfortable silence.

"Awkward," Beast Boy muttered. Raven grunted her agreement. She slid into a chair, drew her cloak around her and closed her eyes. Beast Boy jammed a couple of earphones into his pointy ears and began to nod rhythmically, tapping his feet. Robin leaned his back against a wall and waited, arms crossed, mind racing. The police officers went back to their paperwork, though they spoke to each other in low voices and occasionally threw furtive looks at the Titans.

Was Raven right? Was it a mistake for them to have come here? Probably, but he'd had no choice.

Police Chief Joseph Marcus had been appointed eleven months ago with the change of government, and he was not a friend to the Titans. Every time Robin and Marcus had met, the Police Chief had made it clear that he thought law enforcement was a job for the police, and the Titans were just getting in the way.

Deputy Police Chief Alec Mien had been a much friendlier man. He'd obviously had a lot of respect for the Titans. The thought that he was dead made Robin vaguely sad on a personal level, but on a political level it represented a more significant loss. There weren't many high ranking officials in Jump City who were still sympathetic to the Titans.

_My fault. I should have realised how important public relations is. I was naïve. No, not naïve. Dumb._

_Beep-beep-beep. _ Robin pulled out his communicator and flipped it open.

_"Yo, Robin. I got a fix on that IP address you wanted."_

"Not here, Cy. I'll call you back. Is Star with you?"

_"She responded to an emergency call."_

"She hasn't come back? Did she contact you?"

_"No. She's been gone less than an hour. Whatever it is, I'm sure our girl can handle it."_

"Yeah."

_"I could check on her if you want -"_

"It's fine. You're right. She can handle herself. Listen, Cy, I might not be there in time for the inspection. I want you and Star to take care of it."

_"Aww, man. I'd rather you were here. They say this councilwoman is mean."_

"I'd rather be there, too, but I might have something to do. I'm counting on you, Cy. After me, you're the best qualified for this."

_"Flattery, huh? All right, I'll do it. But try and make it back, boss."_

Robin returned the communicator to his belt. Stupid of him to make a big deal about Star. She was a capable member of his team and he had to respect that. He hadn't been out of line, had he? It was a leader's job to care about his teammates, but the truth was he wouldn't have felt the same if it had been Beast Boy or Cyborg in Star's place.

Constable Tariq returned and Robin could tell at a glance that the news wasn't good. Beast Boy put his earphones away. The constable kept sneaking glances at Robin and then staring at the ground.

"He won't see us," Robin said flatly.

"Sorry, sir," said the constable, shuffling his feet. "He said he was in a meeting and he couldn't be disturbed. He said if you wanted to see him you… uh… have to make an appointment like everyone else." Constable Tariq cringed as though expecting Robin to deal out some harsh punishment.

"Fine," said Robin. "I'll call and make an appointment later. Thanks for your time, constable."

"Yes, sir." The constable saluted as Robin whirled and left the station.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," said Beast Boy, once they were out on the street. "You're just gonna let him blow you off like that?"

"Yes," Robin said. "We haven't got time to waste. We need to find out if Alec Mien's death was more than just a simple mugging. Our first clue is his body."

"Marcus isn't going to let us look at Mien's body," Raven put in. "And we can't make him release it unless we can prove there was meta-human activity involved."

Robin cupped his chin with his right hand, a clear sign he was deep in thought. "Raven, when a person dies violently, that tends to leave a strong emotional imprint, doesn't it?"

Raven said, "You want me to find the place he was killed?"

"Could you? Maybe you'll find some meta-human activity there. Or a clue."

"I might be able to do it. I need something that belonged to him, though. Something personal."

Robin nodded. "You and Beast Boy head to his house. Talk to his family – Raven, you should do the talking – and ask them for a personal item. See if you can track down the place he was killed and retrace his last movements. Investigate and report back."

"Even if we do find the place, there'll be police officers there."

"Try not to force a confrontation with them. See if you can investigate without them interfering. If they get in your way, do what you have to do."

"Couldn't we have just done this from the beginning?" asked Beast Boy.

"No. We had to show on record that we asked Chief Marcus to see us. He refused, so we're taking our own action. There are witnesses to back us up if Marcus makes trouble later." Robin pressed a button on his utility belt.

"So, where does – did – Mr Mien live?" Beast Boy asked.

"Ask Cyborg. I'm heading back to the Tower."

"Robin, wait." Raven slid closer to him. "I felt something," she said in a low voice. "Back in the police station."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "What kind of something?"

"I don't know. Something bad. Everyone was… on edge. Uncomfortable. There was fear."

"That's all?" Robin frowned. "Well, their deputy chief had just been murdered. And we were in the room. They had good reason to be on edge."

"I guess you're right." Raven didn't sound so sure.

"Sorry, Raven, I haven't got time to deal with this now. Get me something more specific and then we'll talk."

There was a low rumbling noise on the edge of their hearing. It grew louder and louder and then the T-cycle leapt into view, powering down the street, dodging cars with the grace of a cheetah. With a screech it came to a halt before Robin and waited, growling like a hungry beast. Robin threw himself astride it and donned his helmet. The seatbelts wrapped around him and clicked into place.

"Good luck, guys," he called, raising a hand in farewell, before flicking off the autopilot and stepping on the throttle. The cycle roared with pleasure as it leapt into action, but Robin kept its power in check. He followed the road rules unless he was on a mission. Even so, Raven and Beast Boy were out of sight in a couple of seconds.

He avoided the main roads, turning into the smaller streets and using the shortcuts that he knew by heart. There was less traffic and he was able to give the bike more freedom without having to worry about startling other drivers. These roads were in poor condition, sometimes with large potholes and rough patches, but the T-bike was built to handle rough terrain, and even the worst of Jump City's streets was like a flat track to it.

Feeling the road under him reminded him of just how much he missed riding. One of these days he would have to get out of the city, out onto the flat plains and steep cliffs on the city's outskirts. There he could let the cycle – and himself – loose. Once he had asked Starfire to explain how she flew, and she had told him – in her awkward, alien way, stumbling over her words but still managing to convey so much meaning through the way she said them – that to Tamaraneans flight was a feeling of deep joy and freedom. Robin would never know what flying felt like, but he thought that riding his cycle came pretty close. One day he would have to bring Starfire out to the canyons and get her to fly with him as he rode… or maybe not. The way things were going, he'd never have the time.

He'd used to insist that everyone took time off. He knew that too much stress without recovery time made people bad at their jobs, not to mention the personal cost. He didn't want to end up like Batman. He didn't want to do that to any of his teammates, either. Lately, though, things had been getting out of hand. There'd been so much going on. He'd thought of recruiting new teammates, but even that would create more work, at least in the short run.

A chime sounded inside his helmet. _"Call from Cyborg,"_ said a cool automated voice in his ear.

"Accept," said Robin.

_"Yo, Robin. Just got word from the councilwoman. She'll be here in twenty minutes. You still held up?"_

"I'll be there in five," Robin said.

_"Well all right. Guess I won't have to deal with her after all."_

"How's the Tower?"

_"Everything in good shape. Star just got back a couple minutes ago."_

"Good. Get onto Raven and Beast Boy when you get the chance. They need Alec Mien's address or a contact for his family."

_"Address, huh? Shouldn't be a problem."_

"All right. Robin out."

…

Riverview Street was quiet on this sleepy Saturday morning. From the sky, all one could see were large, neat emerald lawns, rippling azure swimming pools and well-tended flower beds spilling over with colour. A green hawk folded its wings and plunged to the ground. Raven descended more slowly, and by the time she touched down Beast Boy was back in his human form.

"Fancy place," he said, looking around. "I bet those houses would set you back a bit."

Raven had to agree. The Miens' place was a charming white and mahogany house in a classic design. The driveway was overshadowed by a large tree that spread branches filled with beautiful orange leaves over the house as if protecting it. A silver number six was attached to the pillar holding the post box.

Raven led the way up the driveway. As they reached the door, she said, "Remember, be sensitive. They're still in mourning."

"I know," said Beast Boy. "I may act stupid, but I'm not, you know."

"If you say so." Raven was already preparing the walls around her mind. She took a deep breath, focussing her thoughts, regaining her centre. She hated visiting grieving households.

She rang the bell.

After a minute the door opened. The woman there looked to be in her mid-thirties. She had long black hair with a lighter streak in the fringe and was wearing a brown coat over a nightdress. Her eyes were red, her face swollen and salt tracks glistened on her cheeks. She looked blankly from Raven to Beast Boy. Although Raven had her guard up, she could feel the numbness of the woman's shock like a cold towel on her face.

"Mrs Mien?" Raven asked.

The woman nodded. "You're… you're those Titans, aren't you?"

"That's right. I'm very sorry about your husband. Would it be all right if we came in? We'd like to talk to you for a minute."

Mrs Mien had to dab at her eyes with a tissue to stop a fresh surge of tears. "W-what? Why? Uh, is something wrong? About Alec, I mean."

"We're investigating his death."

"But… the police told me it was just a mugging. They said they're handling it."

"We have reason to believe otherwise. We're carrying out our own investigation."

Mrs Mien looked from one Titan to the other. "Well, if you think it'll help Alec… I mean… ," She nodded and stood back, pulling the door wide. "The police are here."

Raven and Beast Boy exchanged a look.

"Really," was all Raven said.

Mrs Mien led them into a large hall where a couple of police officers were waiting. They were sitting on the sofa, but they rose to their feet when the Titans entered. Raven scanned their faces. They were a middle aged man and a younger woman. She felt surprise and a hint of panic from them. _They were expecting us. And they're not happy we're here. _They were feeling something else as well. Raven could sense it on the very edges of her perception, a darker pattern of emotions like a few off key notes in a harmony. They were bothered by something, just like the police officers in the station. Raven could have solved the mystery by reaching into their minds, but she would not violate the privacy of a person's psyche without a very good reason.

"Please sit down," Mrs Mien said. "Would you like a drink? Tea, coffee?" To the police officers she added, "The Titans wanted to speak to me about Alec."

Immediately the male police officer spoke up. "With all due respect, there's no need for you to be here, Titans. We have the situation covered."

"That's not for you to decide," Raven said. "We have the authority to investigate cases as we see fit. You carry on with your investigation and we'll get on with ours."

"Do you have a warrant?"

"Don't be ridiculous. We don't need a warrant to speak to people." What was he doing, trying to delay them? Raven's eyes slid to the female officer and noted that her hand had gone nonchalantly into her pocket. _Calling for reinforcements. We'd better get this over with quickly._

"Why are you investigating? Do you have evidence of meta-human activity?"

"That is none of your concern," Raven said, putting a touch of sharpness into her voice. Turning to Mrs Mien, she said, "We need to speak with you in private. It's a matter of great urgency."

"I wouldn't do that if I was you, ma'am," said the policeman. "It could jeopardise the case against Deputy Chief Mien's killer."

Beast Boy had had enough. He walked up to the police officer and crossed his arms. "What is your problem, dude? I oughtta charge you for obstructing a law enforcement officer in the course of his – I mean, her – duty. Just cut the crap and stay out of our way. Jeez."

Raven looked Mrs Mien in the eyes. "Mrs Mien, we only want to bring your husband's killer to justice. We're not interested in playing politics. Please believe me when I say that talking to us won't hurt your husband's case in any way. We only want to help you."

Mrs Mien looked troubled. Her eyes flicked to the police officers and returned to Raven. "Alec trusted you Titans. He believed in you. He said you were good for the city. If you say you need to talk to me, then you need to talk to me."

Raven nodded. "Thank you. Beast Boy, stay here and keep an eye on things. Mrs Mien and I are going to have a talk."

Beast Boy threw the police officers a dirty look. "Oh, boy, this is gonna be fun." He rolled his eyes.


	4. End of the Titans

The tower reared into the sky like a beacon. Robin let the T-cycle take him to the edge of the bay before swinging to the right and following the shoreline. He twisted a section of the right handlebar. With a faint rumbling, the ground up ahead slid away, revealing a metal ramp that descended into the earth. Robin shot down it and sped along the underground passageway, the sound of the T-cycle's engine booming off the steel walls. Automated guns and cameras whirred past, their sensors trained on Robin.

Once he reached the garage, he switched the T-cycle to autopilot, leapt off and raced for the elevator. It opened as he approached.

_"Welcome, Robin."_

"Robin's room," he said, as he darted in and spun around. The doors slid closed and the elevator rose smoothly.

_"Next stop, Robin's room," _it purred.

_Ding ding ding. _Three ascending chimes heralded Cyborg's voice. _"Yo, Robin. Welcome back. The councilwoman will be here in ten minutes."_

"I know. I'm just getting a change of clothes. I'll see her in Briefing Room 1. Is everything ready?"

_"The whole Tower's spic and span. All our records for the past five years have been sent to the Council and are uploaded to your drive."_

"Thanks, Cy. You're the best."

_"I know."_

The elevator reached level nine and switched gears, moving horizontally.

_"Level Nine," _it announced as the doors opened. _"To reach Robin's room, please... " _Robin didn't wait to hear the directions. He trotted down the corridor to the door of his room, removed his right glove and pressed his hand against the scanning pad. The door clicked and slid open.

Inside, the room was spartan, all bare lines and hard surfaces, so tidy it looked unlived in. The far wall was occupied by a series of tall metal lockers. There was a small bed in the corner, the blanket and sheets pulled so tight around the mattress there was not a wrinkle in sight. There was a desk on which lay a few neat stacks of paper and some electronic equipment. Unlike the other Titans' rooms, there was no window (it would have been a security risk). There was an air vent, which Robin scanned using the thermal imager in his mask whenever he entered; he knew all about ventilation shafts. There was not a speck of dust on the metal floor. Whenever Robin left, the robotic cleaner under the bed would activate and roam the room, wiping out any traces of dirt before returning to its place.

He opened a locker, shrugged off his cloak and removed his gloves, belt, boots and Robin suit. He hung them up and briefly considered wearing civilian clothes before dressing himself in an identical Robin suit, clean, repaired and restocked. It was probably best to remind the councilwoman of who he was and what he represented. In this suit, he was Robin, a legend, a superhero, defender of Jump City. In a shirt he was just an orphaned teenage punk who never got his high school diploma.

He still had time before the councilwoman arrived. He sat at his desk and checked his email.

_Dear Mr Robbin_

_Plees help my mommy she ran awey becos she fited with Dad. Dad says he is sory for hiting her. He is scared to go to the polis becos they mite put him in jale. Dad is not bad but wen he drinks he fites wit mom but he is sory. I want mom to com back and we can be a hapy family agen. I miss her and Dad sed yoo can help peeple wen they ask yoo so Im askin yoo plees help me. _

_Dear Sir_

_You are the only one I can turn to. I spoke to the police but they're not interested in helping mutants. My employer found out I am a mutant last month and fired me. I approached Legal Aid and was told that I have a good case for unfair dismissal, but I am not eligible for legal assistance. I simply cannot afford the legal fees required to take this up at the Industrial Relations tribunal. I have tried to read the relevant laws but they are so complicated I don't feel I can represent myself. I have not been able to find a job. It is very difficult in this economic climate. The Council is debating legislation that would require people to declare any meta-human abilities to potential employers, which would make it impossible for me to find work as I live in a conservative part of town. I have an old mother and a younger brother to support. I have always told my brother to stay in school because education is very important, but now he has had to earn a few dollars washing cars and mowing lawns just to help put food on the table. I'm afraid that we will lose our house. I don't know what to do. I feel that our legal system has failed me. You are the only one I can ask for help. Your name is synonymous with Justice in this city. I know you won't turn down anyone. When the lowest of the low have nowhere to go, at least they have one protector who will never abandon them. I know you must be very busy, Sir, but if you could find the time to look into my case I would be forever grateful._

_Robin,_

_My brother was beaten to death last week. The police say they can't find the culprit and it was an act of random violence. But I'm sure it was a hate crime. You see, he was gay…_

_My mother has breast cancer…_

_They stole my life savings…_

_I love my dog so much and he's gone…_

_She was raped at gunpoint…_

_I don't want to live any more…_

_… say she committed suicide, but I won't believe it for a second…_

_ … what can I do?_

_I have no money but I would do anything…_

_Please help me…_

_Robin…_

_Only you can help us…_

_We need you…_

There were a thousand more just like it. Every day, a thousand voices crying out for him to help them. Didn't they realise that if he could, he would give them everything they wanted in an instant? If it were in his power to do so, he would protect them all. But he couldn't fix broken families or take away prejudice and ignorance. He couldn't bring back the dead or stop the random suffering of life, or undo all the sick, evil things humans did to each other for no reason.

There were other messages, too.

_It's appalling that you so called superheroes run around interfering with the due process of justice. It's a mark of how ignorant most people are that they welcome you rather than recognising you as fascists. You costumed freaks should stop playing at vigilante justice and go back to the insane asylum where you belong._

_Fuck you Robin. lol what a gay outfit. You look like a fucking clown asshole. Eat a dick fag. I bet you cyborg and beastboys are all faggots. Lol you live in the same house as a hot bitch like starfire and you can't even tap that ass faggot. I bet u like taking beastboys green cock up your ass. If i was u id pound starfire's pussy. I hope Slade rapes u and u choke on his dick and die shitbag._

_Your time is coming! You think you're above the law because you have powers! All over the world people are learning the truth about how you use REAL HUMANS to fuel your war! Earth is being taken over by aliens, mutants, freaks, meta-humans and machines who want to make us their slaves, use our resources and finally destroy us? You think we haven't woken up? You have made a deal to make Earth the dumping ground of the galaxy. All aliens and superhumans now have SPECIAL RIGHTS and can do whatever they want and are encouraged to BREED and have hundreds of MUTANT CHILDREN, but REAL HUMANS who were born on earth and belong here are second class citizens? Yes, Robin was born a human. But you have betrayed and gambled away the future of the human race. REAL HUMAN elites like you are working with aliens and putting them into high positions of power. Are there any other humans on the Titans? Cyborg is now a machine? Beast Boy is a mutant? Raven is a demon, Starfire an alien? You want to replace all our government with freaks! Soon you will pay for what you've done! Be ready!_

The intercom chimed. _"She's on her way over. I've got visuals of her boat on the bay."_

"OK, Cy," Robin replied. "Could you let her in? I'll wait in the briefing room."

_"Better you than me."_

Robin closed his computer down. All those people asking for his help would have to wait. Not even heroes could escape red tape.

When he got to Briefing Room 1, he took his place at one end of the long table. Tall, wide windows let in warm sunlight and spectacular views of the bay. There was an air vent in the corner (no suspicious heat signatures), a computer, projector and swivel chairs arranged around the table. It was Robin's habit to size up any room for tactical positions, escape routes and objects of interest. The table could be used to hide under and launch a sneak attack, though the wood wouldn't stand up to much force. The projector and computer were heavy enough to be used as light bludgeons. The swivel chairs wouldn't be much use, but they could serve as distractors. He didn't expect the councilwoman to attack him, but it was still a useful habit to be aware of these things.

The windows were a problem. Robin didn't like them. They were made of reinforced glass but they wouldn't be an obstacle to a high powered bullet or laser. Yes, they were surrounded by open water for miles around, and yes, the Tower's sensors were constantly monitoring the environment for signs of danger, but it was still a security risk. If Robin'd had his way, the shutters would have been down for most of the day, only opening for brief periods. This idea had been vigorously opposed by Starfire and Beast Boy. Cyborg had been undecided and Raven hadn't cared. Robin had let it go. Starfire didn't ask for much, and if having massive windows made her happy, he could live with that.

The door opened and Cyborg ushered the councilwoman inside. She was a small woman, about 40, with brown hair, blue eyes and an intense, almost fierce expression. She wore a grey business suit with a skirt and carried a large black briefcase in her right hand.

"You may leave us," she said to Cyborg imperiously. "I wish to speak to your leader alone." Her voice was hard, strong. It was the voice of someone used to giving orders.

"If you insist," Cyborg replied. He raised his eyebrows at Robin, giving him a _what's her deal? _look before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

She marched over to Robin and stuck her hand out. "Good morning, Robin. I am Councilwoman Wilhelmina Farrell."

Robin stood to shake her hand. "Good morning," he said.

She seated herself beside him, slammed her briefcase on the table and withdrew a large holographic tablet. "I presume this room is secure?" she said. "The matters I have to discuss with you are extremely sensitive."

"It's secure. Soundproof and swept for bugs."

"Well, let's get down to business." She folded her hands and looked at Robin. "There are going to be some changes around here, Robin. Big, big changes."

Robin didn't like her tone. "What do you mean?" he asked.

She leaned towards him, her voice becoming frosty. "I mean that the age of the Titans is over. Your corrupt, dangerous reign over Jump City has come to an end."

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"No, Robin, it is deadly serious." She sat back and gave him an unpleasant smile. "You know, I despise people like you. Freaks. Abominations. You have such contempt for us true humans. You think you can walk all over us. You think we're too frightened to stand up to you. Well, some of us are willing to stand up for our rights. If I had it my way, you'd all be lined up and shot."

Robin got to his feet. "That's it. You came here to perform a review of our operations, not to insult us. This meeting is over. I'm sending you back to the committee and letting them know that you used anti-meta slurs."

Councilwoman Farrell looked amused. "This meeting will be over when I say it's over. Sit down, boy."

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't drag your sorry ass out of here right now."

"How about this: I can destroy you and every one of your teammates, and put _your_ sorry asses in jail _right now_."

There was a pause.

"That's got your attention, hasn't it, Robin? Perhaps you think I'm bluffing? Take a look at this." The councilwoman tapped on her tablet. A holographic image of Robin appeared in the centre of the table. "Just over eight months ago, you committed several acts of breaking and entering, as well as thefts of advanced technology." She gave Robin a hard look. "Do you deny this?"

That was when Slade had blackmailed him into being his apprentice. "I can explain that. I was under duress. Lives were at stake."

"Oh, you can explain, can you? And yet you didn't confess to the crimes you committed. You didn't give a jury the opportunity to decide if your defence was adequate. It seems you made that decision yourself. The law is good enough for common criminals, it seems, but the great Robin of the Teen Titans is above such things."

Robin's face burned.

Councilwoman Farrell pressed another button, and an image of Red X joined the hologram of Robin. "Ten months ago you designed a weaponised suit known as Red X. In creating the suit you dealt with a convicted criminal, Professor Chang, in order to obtain a core of xenothium. While wearing the suit you committed a number of crimes including the theft of several extremely valuable processor chips. Subsequently you allowed the suit to be captured by another criminal who used it to pursue further illegal activities. Now, don't tell me, Robin. You were under duress this time as well?"

"No. I wasn't. It was an undercover operation."

"I see. And no doubt the decision to break the law again was made after due consultation with the authorities…"

Robin was silent.

"Oh dear." Tap tap. The image of Red X was replaced by that of a skinny blond girl with blue eyes. "You harboured Terra, a violent, sociopathic delinquent wanted for theft in several major cities. You trained her, sheltered her, and ultimately allowed her to terrorise Jump City."

"Terra betrayed us! She tried to kill us! We had no idea how dangerous she was."

"Which rather calls your judgement into question, doesn't it? If you can allow a sociopathic murderer into your home, induct her into your team, give her law enforcement powers and live with her for months without being aware of her criminal tendencies, are you really in a position to be making legal decisions and putting yourself above the law? I note that Terra was never made to answer for her crimes. According to your report, she was turned to stone and her body was left in the volcano in Central Park. However, a recent investigation has found no such stone body in that volcano. Are you aware of Terra's location now?"

"No."

"Are you aware that one of your teammates, Beast Boy, suggested that Central Park be named 'Terra Park' in her honour? Why would he wish to honour a criminal and terrorist?"

"She saved the city."

"From your own description of events as well as the reports of seismologists, the city was in danger because she instigated a string of earthquakes and awakened a dormant volcano. So she would have destroyed the city, but had a change of heart at the last minute. I would hardly call that a heroic act, would you?" Tap tap. The image of Terra was replaced by a different blond girl, with dark eyes and a pink dress clinging to her attractive figure. "This is Kitten. She is the daughter of Killer Moth, a mutant who unleashed a devastating biological assault on the city. A day before this attack took place, you accompanied Kitten to a dance and were seen to be romantically involved with her."

"I was forced to do that," Robin growled.

"Under duress again? For a defender of the city, you seem to spend a lot of time being forced into committing crimes or fraternising with criminals. How convenient that it allows you to avoid all responsibility for your actions. One wonders how you can possibly protect us when you seem to have so much trouble protecting yourself." Tap tap. Robin and Kitten faded, their images replaced with that of Starfire. "This alien broke free from a Gordanian ship, damaging it in the process and killing several of the Gordanians on board. Upon arriving on Earth she went on a rampage and caused further property damage. She is an escaped slave and is considered stolen property by the Gordanians."

"Slavery is illegal. Starfire isn't property."

"On Earth. But if she was in Gordanian space when she broke free, Gordanian laws applied to her at the time, which means she committed a crime by escaping, not to mention attacking the people on board. Earth would not extradite an escaped slave to a slave-owning planet, but it might order restitution paid to her former owners, especially if she caused property damage. She might also be guilty of assault and murder if she exceeded reasonable force in breaking free, which she almost certainly did. These Tamaraneans are known to be violent and warlike, which begs the question of why you brought one to Earth and gave it a law enforcement position."

"Not it. Her. Tamaraneans have two genders like humans. Starfire is a girl. And she's not dangerous. She's done a lot of good things for the people of this city. She's a trusted member of the team."

"Isn't that what you believed about Terra? We've already established that your judgement is questionable. The girl has several charges facing her and you have aided her in evading justice. Also, she did not apply for a visa until well after her arrival on Earth, which means she faces charges of illegal immigration and tax evasion on top of everything else. Moving on." Tap tap. Cyborg. "By attempting a risky undercover operation, allowed his technology to fall into the hands of the H.I.V.E. On one occasion went on a rampage and caused substantial property damage." Tap. Beast Boy. "A criminal known as Adonis claims that Beast Boy used excessive and brutal force against him, leaving him unconscious. Beast Boy is also known to be sympathetic to Terra and may know her current whereabouts. He may be conspiring to keep her from justice." Tap tap. Raven appeared.

"And now we come to the last and worst. This individual has been shown to be psychologically unstable and unable to control her powers. Dr Light claims that after he surrendered, she continued to assault him, leaving him with severe physical, emotional and psychological damage. Using forbidden magic, she summoned an enormous dragon and unleashed it on Jump City. She cast a spell on a beast that had captured a small child. In the process, she almost killed the child in question. I have information that she serves as a portal to a malicious extradimensional entity that wishes to destroy the entire universe. The entity influences her thoughts and feelings and controls her powers. Resisting it drives her into emotional instability, yet she continues to recklessly use her powers and gamble with the lives of all people on Earth. She has never been held accountable for any of her actions. She should be receiving psychological treatment and placed under close observation for the safety of all. Now, you cannot claim that you were unaware of her dangerous tendencies, as you were with Terra. How do you explain her continued presence on your team?"

Robin was silent for a moment. Then he said, "How do you know all this?"

"Ah, ah." Councilwoman Farrell waved a reproachful finger. "I cannot reveal my sources. You of all people must understand the value of anonymity… _Robin_. Or perhaps you only approve of anonymity when it protects you. Perhaps this is another case where one law applies to ordinary citizens and another to yourself." She shook her head. "Regardless of where I got my information, what you need to know is that I have the power to end you. You and most of your teammates are facing multiple charges. All you need is a single conviction to be barred from any law enforcement position for the rest of your life. If the press gets hold of this, your reputations will be trashed. You will be exposed as hypocrites. The people of the city will call for you to step down, even before the trials commence."

Robin's fists clenched. He focussed on his breathing and relaxed his muscles. "So what do you want? You could have gone to the press already. You said it yourself: you have the power to destroy us. Why haven't you?"

She seemed to be enjoying this. "It's simple. I want to make a deal with you. You see, I think you Titans have your heart in the right place. I think you genuinely want to help the city. The problem is that you're incompetent, dangerous and above the law. Power is dangerous, Robin. It corrupts. People in power need to watched. There must be accountability. Who watches the watchmen? The police service have an independent commission to monitor their activities. You Titans answer only to yourselves. That's why I recommended Marcus for the Police Chief position. I knew he would do his part to keep your power in check. That is also why I drafted the legislation that gave the police force priority over non meta-human cases, and why I set up the Meta-human Law Enforcement Committee to review your actions. What is needed is for the Titans to be strictly monitored, controlled and reviewed by our City Council. For that reason I am making the following changes.

"Firstly, you will step down as leader of the Titans. You will remain on the team, but I shall appoint a new leader to take your place. I will also be recommending more new members. This is a very large tower, far too big for a team of five. Secondly, the Titans will report directly to the Meta-human Law Enforcement Committee and be subject to its authority. Thirdly, all team members will be encouraged to undergo counselling. In particular, Raven will be required to undergo psychiatric assessment and ongoing treatment or be expelled from the team. Fourthly, I may change or impose any conditions at any given time."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then all of this information goes public. You and your teammates will be arrested."

Robin closed and opened his right hand.

"How long do I have to decide?"

"Two minutes."


	5. Shot

Beast Boy's sharp ears picked up the sound of footsteps long before Mrs Mien and Raven returned to the room. Mrs Mien's tears seemed to have dried. Raven nodded slightly at Beast Boy: she'd gotten what she came for. Thank God that was over. Waiting in the room with the police had been really awkward. Beast Boy had thought of turning into a pig as a joke, but he'd decided it wasn't appropriate. Besides, Robin would have told him off.

They stepped out onto the street.

"Did you get it?" Beast Boy asked.

Raven took a small plastic bag from the folds of her robes and held it up. Inside was a blue twist of cloth. "Apparently this was one of his favourite ties. He wore it at least once a week."

"Cool," said Beast Boy. "So are you gonna -"

_Bang!_

The side of Raven's head exploded in a shower of blood. One moment she was standing upright, the next she was toppling to the ground, red leaking from her hair, spreading and pooling on the pavement.

"Raven!" Beast Boy screamed. His first instinct was to rush to her side, but training took over and he became an eagle, wings pumping as he dragged himself into the sky. _Holy shit holy shit someone shot Raven. OK, stay calm, focus. Where's the gunman? _

He caught a column of hot air under his wings and let it lift him. Once he had enough altitude, he scanned the ground for signs of the shooter. His eyes darted over the rooftops, bushes and distant buildings. He couldn't see anything suspicious. By alternately folding and spreading his wings, he ducked and weaved, flying in an erratic pattern that would make it harder for a shot to hit him. The shooter could have left by now, or could be lying in wait, trying to get a fix on Beast Boy.

He couldn't see a thing. He wanted to go to Raven, but if the gunman was still around, Beast Boy would end up shot as well. He would be no use to Raven that way. Hating himself, he turned and flapped away. He crossed a couple of streets before swooping down and landing on the roof of a house. He returned to human form, pulled out his communicator and hit the emergency button.

"Guys, get over here right now!" he yelled. "Raven's been shot – hit in the head! We're under attack! I don't know where – "

_Bang! Bang! _More shots in the distance. What was the gunman doing? Raven was already down, wasn't she? Unless… was the gunman trying to finish her off? Beast Boy's heart pounded. That was it. He might not be able to spot the gunman, he might get himself killed for no reason, but he was heading back to Raven right now. He'd be damned if he stood by and did nothing while someone pumped bullets into her.

He ran to the roof's edge and jumped off. Becoming a cheetah before he hit the ground, he landed and broke into a sprint in one easy motion. His paws scraped against the bitumen as he powered back to Raven, his feline form flying across the road. His paws hardly seemed to touch the road as the landscape blurred beneath him.

_Come on, Raven. Be safe. _

He leapt onto a bin, clawed his way over a fence and was back in Riverview Street. There was Raven lying on the ground, just as he'd left her. As he reached her his powerful cheetah nose was assaulted by the stench of blood. Her head lay in a puddle of crimson but the rest of her body looked untouched. Where the hell were the other Titans? He couldn't move Raven in this state and he didn't have any medical training. She wouldn't last much longer. He transformed into a stegosaurus, curving his body and tail to form a wall around her. He tensed his body, waiting for the bullet to strike.

It never did. One minute passed. Two. Three.

_Whoosh!_

He heard a rush of air. He couldn't see much because the stegosaurus had a small head, low to the ground, with strange vision. All of a sudden he realised there was someone standing close to him and Raven. Beast Boy bellowed and swung at the newcomer with his tail, but without moving a muscle the man somehow shifted himself out of the way. Beast Boy's slow stegosaurus brain and dim senses were having trouble processing this. He returned to his human form, reasoning that he should be able to handle one unarmed man. He was not prepared for what he saw.

"Hey, I didn't shoot her," said Kid Flash. "Don't take it out on me."

"Stay sharp! There's a gunman around."

"Yeah, I took care of him," Kid Flash said. "We need to get her to a hospital. I would do it myself but it's not safe to move her like this."

"I called the other Titans. Dammit, where are they?"

"Speak of the devil." Kid Flash looked skywards. Starfire was zooming towards them, carrying Cyborg by his shoulders. She came in to land, touching down a few feet from Raven.

"Where the hell were you?!" Beast Boy shouted.

Cyborg knelt beside Raven's head and examined her. He shook his head and produced a small silver cylinder from somewhere. He pressed the top and it sprayed thick foam, which formed tiny bubbles and spread around Raven's head and part of her face, sealing and cushioning them.

"Is… is she gonna be okay?" Beast Boy asked.

"I hope so." Cyborg looked grim. "The T-Car's on its way over. I'll load her on and take her to the med bay."

"Where's Robin?" Beast Boy demanded.

"He's still with the councilwoman."

"Did he not hear the part where I said Raven was _shot in the head?_"

Cyborg raised his hands in a pacifying gesture. "Chill, BB. You know Robin cares about Raven just as much as you do. We all do."

"Where is the coward who hid in the shadows and fired at her with a mechanical projectile?" roared Starfire. "On Tamaran such cravens would be torn apart limb from limb!"

"Yeah, about that," said Kid Flash. "I knocked the coward out. He's back there in the park."

Starfire began to march away.

"Starfire!" Cyborg called after her. "Remember, on Earth we have laws against police brutality!"

Starfire halted herself with difficulty and spun around. "I will not see the one who did this to her. I cannot lay eyes upon the filthy _g'vintanelk _without crushing him. I do not understand why on Earth you have laws to protect such wicked _jerarktok bestafpen!_"

"Easy there, space chick," Kid Flash said. "You're kinda scary when you're mad."

Starfire frowned at him. "I am from space, but I am not a juvenile fowl, nor am I insane?"

Kid Flash blinked. "Huh?"

Mercifully the T-car arrived at that point. Cyborg and Beast Boy unfolded a stretcher from the back, placed it on the ground and carefully moved Raven onto it. The three back seats of the T-car were folded down, creating a space that, together with the trunk, was wide enough to accommodate a couple of people lying side by side. Raven was carefully strapped in.

"You and Star take Raven to the med bay," Cyborg told Beast Boy. "I'm going to investigate the scene."

"What? No! She needs you, Cy! After Raven, you're the best at fixing people. You're the one who knows how to use all the medical machines."

"BB, it's all automated. Load her into the med bay and let the computer take over. I wrote the program myself and the med bay's got a direct link to my internal processor, so it's as good as having me there. I have the best equipment for forensic analysis. I want to check out this scene. We could find a clue to who shot at you and why."

"He said he already caught the guy who did it!" Beast Boy said, jerking his head at Kid Flash. "Come on Cy, please! Raven needs you, and I'm asking you as a friend. She would be there for you if you were injured."

Cyborg looked at Beast Boy for a few moments. "All right. Let's go. Star, would you mind flying back to the Tower? There isn't room for three of us in the car." He turned to Kid Flash. "Thanks for your help. I would thank you properly, but we're kind of preoccupied at the moment."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Kid Flash said. "I'll head over to your Tower with your alien friend. See you there. But hey, what about the guy I knocked out?"

Cyborg said, "Star, could you carry him back to the tower without being violent?"

Starfire wrinkled her nose. "I believe I can manage. With difficulty."

"I'm sure no one will mind if you drop him or scrape him a little here and there," Kid Flash said.

"Hurry up," said Beast Boy. He climbed into the passenger seat of the car. Cyborg got into the driver's seat. The car engine rumbled and roared to life. As they drove away, Beast Boy turned to watch Raven's still figure. All he could see of her was her hair. _Hang in there, Raven._

…

Kid Flash led Starfire to the spot where the gunman had been concealed.

"So. Your name's Starfire, right?"

"Yes."

"Are you Greek?"

"No."

"Really? I thought all goddesses were from Greece."

"I am not a goddess. I am a Tamaranean from the planet Tamaran, which orbits the star you humans call Vega."

"Really. And are all Tamaraneans as hot as you are?"

Starfire frowned again. "We regulate our core body temperatures much like humans, but our peripheral temperatures vary depending on the environment."

"Are you for real?"

"I do not know what you mean. Are you asking whether our sensory perceptions correspond to an external reality? This is a question that the Tamaranean philosophers have struggled with for millennia. I do not have the power to answer this, please."

"Oookay."

They reached a park bordered by a low brick wall and a tall row of trees. Beneath the nearest tree an unconscious man was sprawled in the dirt, his hands cuffed behind his back. A long rifle lay on the ground beside him.

"Is this the _g'vintanelk?_" Starfire asked, her chest heaving with anger, her breasts rising and falling (a fact that did not escape Kid Flash's attention).

"Yup."

Starfire donned a pair of gloves. "He would have killed Raven. On Tamaran he would be made to pay the blood-price. He is fortunate he lives on Earth."

Kid Flash thought the man was fortunate to be arrested by Starfire. A lot of people would commit crimes just to have her lay hands on them. Too bad he was unconscious.

Starfire lifted the man in her right hand and picked up his weapon in her left. Turning to Kid Flash she said, "I am going to fly to the Tower. If you wish, you may hold onto me."

An odd expression darted across Kid Flash's face. "Uh… thanks for the offer, but I think I'll run."

"Very well." Starfire nodded at him, rose into the air and swept away.

Kid Flash stood staring after her for a few moments with a glazed look. Then he shook himself and became a red and yellow blur.

…

In a gloomy chamber, a man in brown body armour sat before floating rectangles of light, his hands clasped beneath his chin. His left eye glimmered in his mask, flicking from screen to screen.

An older gentleman appeared at his side with a tray. A steaming cup was placed beside him. "Your tea, Sir."

Slade did not acknowledge the presence of Wintergreen.

"Is it true that one of the Titans was shot in the head?"

Slade nodded.

"Which one?"

"Not the important one."

"I see. And the murder of Mien?"

"Life never goes according to plan, Wintergreen. We both know that."

"What do you intend to do now?"

"Watch and wait. I have hit the boy where it hurts the most. And that was merely the first blow. It will be… interesting to see how he reacts."

"Was all this… this business… all about the boy?"

"Always."

Wintergreen couldn't tell if Slade was talking about Robin or his son. He wondered if it made any difference any more.

"Dinner will be served at 6.30, Sir," he said, as he took his tray and disappeared into the shadows.


	6. Stop Asking Questions

In the corridor outside the med bay, Beast Boy sat with his hands on his knees. Harsh white light shone overhead. Cold. Sterile. It gleamed off the bare white walls. Starfire sat across from him, head lowered, a curtain of hair falling across her face. His arms and legs jittered. What was taking Cyborg so long? He kept seeing Raven lying in the puddle of red and the way she lay so still strapped in the back of the car. Every time he thought of it he felt sick to his stomach.

What was going to happen to her? She would be all right, wouldn't she? She had to be. Raven was indestructible. She sailed through the world in her own little bubble, wrapped in her blue cloak and her don't-mess-with-me attitude. It didn't matter what was going on around her. Her mind was always calm and collected. She dealt with armed thugs the same way she dealt with affection or Beast Boy's jokes: she kept them at a distance, destroyed them with ease. She might roll her eyes and add a sarcastic comment or two just to let people know how untouchable she was. Nothing could faze her. She wasn't _vulnerable_.

She would be okay. Right?

Beast Boy realised the fingers of his right hand were worrying at his lip. He moved them away and they clenched into a fist. He stamped on the ground once, twice, to release the nervous energy in his legs.

The doors to the med bay opened. Beast Boy was on his feet almost before Cyborg got out the door. His eyes greedily roamed Cyborg's face, looking for answers. "How is she?" he asked. His voice broke, which would have embarrassed him, but he didn't care, not now, not in front of Cyborg and Starfire.

Cyborg looked like he was weighing his words. "Her condition is stable," he said, "but it's serious. Very serious. The bullet pierced the back of her skull. It passed through part of her brain."

"What does that mean?" Beast Boy asked. "Will there be… brain damage?"

"I don't know. It went through the visual cortex and occipital lobe. It's hard to say with Raven. You know, she can heal some injuries, but I don't know how this is gonna affect her. The medbot fixed her skull with a temporary plate while it grows her some new bone. It can't repair the brain tissue, though. Not until we know if there's any neurological deficit. She's on painkillers and in an induced coma."

Beast Boy didn't understand all that, but it sounded bad.

"May we see her?" Starfire asked.

Cyborg nodded, turned and led them in. The med bay was hushed, no sound but the gentle humming of machines in the background. The smell of disinfectant floated in the air. There were two rows of beds with plain white sheets, empty except for the one in the middle of the room. Cyborg stood back as Beast Boy and Starfire went to Raven's side.

Raven didn't look like herself. She looked very small, pale and exposed. Tubes and wires snaked out of her. Beast Boy put his hand on hers.

"Come on, Ray. Get better soon. Who's gonna tell me how dumb my jokes are?"

"I could do that for you, green bean."

Kid Flash leaned against the wall by the door. He had come in with Robin, who went to stand beside Starfire, across from Beast Boy.

Beast Boy glared. "Well, look who it is. Sure you have time to be here? Don't you have something more important to do, like gelling your hair?"

"I'm sorry, Beast Boy," said Robin quietly. "I came as soon as I could."

"It's been _hours!_"

"Beast Boy, chill," Cyborg said.

"No, I won't chill. Raven was badly injured. Robin had a duty to be here. If he cared about us at all he would've come as soon as I called him. He doesn't care. We're just tools for him to use." Beast Boy stabbed a finger at Robin. "_You're _the one who told us to go to Mien's house. You knew it was dangerous, but you sent us there while you ran back to the Tower."

Cyborg advanced on Beast Boy. "Beast Boy! I know you're upset right now, but you need to get a grip. This isn't Robin's fault. This isn't anyone's fault but the guy holding the gun. Robin's put himself in danger to save the team plenty of times before. Raven knew the risks when she signed up for this. The last thing she'd want is for us to break down and turn on each other. Come on, man. Keep it together."

Beast Boy's jaw clenched as he heaved a few deep breaths. Eventually his breathing subsided. "I'm sorry, Robin. I shouldn't have said that. I'm just… this shouldn't have happened. Not to us. We're supposed to be better than this. We're supposed to look out for each other. We're the best. How could this happen?"

Kid Flash made a surprised noise. "Whoa, the green bean's showing emotional maturity. I have been gone a while, haven't I?"

Everyone glared at him. He looked contrite.

"Sorry. I thought it was the kind of thing Raven would say."

"Raven isn't a jackass," said Beast Boy.

"I'll let that go," said Kid Flash, "since this is obviously a difficult time for you."

"More difficult with you here. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Well, since you brought it up, I thought I'd come and see how you Titans were doing. I heard you had a city of your own, a nice place, a little team where up-and-coming young heroes could stretch their wings. You have no idea how annoying it is working under the Flash. Well, maybe you guys do. You all had mentors before you joined this team, right? Well, the Flash treats me like a little kid. And he has the same superpower as me, which kind of sucks. Calling yourself the world's fastest man has a nice ring to it. The world's second fastest man? Not so much."

"You could call yourself the world's most annoying man," Beast Boy suggested.

"Thanks for the tip, but I'd hate to take your life's only achievement away from you."

"That's enough, guys," Robin said finally. "Kid Flash, you picked a bad time to visit. I have an announcement to make. I was going to call a meeting, but since we're all here anyway, I may as well get on with it." He paused, looked from one of his teammates to the other and seemed to brace himself. "The Teen Titans are now under the authority and control of the Meta-human Law Enforcement Committee. We have to comply with whatever decisions the committee makes. Also, I've stepped down as leader of the team. Councilwoman Farrell will appoint someone to take my place."

"Is this a joke?" Cyborg asked. "'Cos if it is, it isn't very funny."

"It's not April Fool's Day, Robin," Beast Boy said quietly. "What's going on?"

Starfire said, "Please, why would you do such a thing? It is not making the sense."

"It's no joke," said Robin. "I wish it was, but it's not. I'm not any happier about this than you are. Councilwoman Farrell forced my hand. She has dirt on all of us. She threatened to go to the media and press charges against us unless I did what she said. She knows about the things I did when I worked for Slade. She knows about Red X. She knows how Starfire came to Earth and wants to charge her for assault and property damage. She knows that Beast Boy fought Adonis, she knows that Cyborg malfunctioned and went haywire, and worst of all she knows all about Raven. She knows everything."

There was a much longer, thoughtful silence.

"Are you telling me you're now under the control of some loony government agency?" asked Kid Flash.

"I'm afraid so," Robin replied.

"I never thought I'd say this, but maybe I should've stayed with the Flash. Nah, you know what? With all this stuff going on, and Raven down, you guys are going to need my help more than ever."

"Oh, joy," Beast Boy muttered.

"Listen, everyone," said Robin. "I know you're not gonna be happy working under Farrell and her new leader. I don't know how this is going to affect the way the team runs. If any of you choose to take a break during this period, I understand."

"We should all resign in protest," said Cyborg. "The government shouldn't be trying to control us. We need our independence."

"Again, if you want to do that, I understand," Robin said. "But here's the thing. I'm not happy being pushed around like this, but the city needs the Titans. I think it's better for us to be on the city's superhero team than for us to be out of the picture while the government forms a new one. At least this way we're in the loop and we have some control over what's going on. And we're not going to take this lying down. Farrell knows too much about us. She basically told me that she hates anyone who isn't a regular human. She said she wants to destroy the Titans. We're going to find out what she wants and who she's working for. And then we're going to take her down."

"And in the meantime we're going to take her orders?" asked Cyborg.

"Bite the bullet, Cyborg. She's trying to drive us into hiding. I'm not going to let her."

"You tell 'em, Robby boy," said Kid Flash.

"That's Robin. It's okay to joke around, but first you have to gain people's trust. Show some respect."

"Sorry, man. It's a laugh a minute around here, isn't it?"

"I don't think any of us are in a very playful mood right now."

"You don't say."

Silence descended. One by one the Titans dispersed except Beast Boy, who pulled up a chair and sat beside Raven's bed. After a while he turned into a fox terrier and curled into a ball.

…

Robin's communicator buzzed on the way to the control room. He flipped it open and to his irritation Police Chief Marcus appeared on the screen. The Chief looked angry.

"Robin, did you send your Titans to speak to Alec Mien's wife?" the Chief bellowed.

"That's right."

"Why the hell did you do that?"

"I have my reasons. I could've shared them with you, but you refused to see us."

"Well, thanks to you, Mien's wife and two of my officers are dead!"

"What?"

"After your Titans left, something attacked Mien's house. It killed everyone inside!"

"Tell me everything. Now."

"No. You've done enough. Stay away, Robin. Whoever did this was trying to send you Titans a message. Just leave this to us and stop interfering."

"Message? What are you talking about?"

"Look at this."

An image appeared on the screen. It was a wall splattered with blood. Some of the red mess had been traced into large words: _TITANS STOP ASKING QUESTIONS MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS OR MORE WILL DIE._

"Seems pretty clear," said Marcus. "Whoever did this wants you to stop investigating."

"Are you saying we should give in to the demands of this killer?"

"I'm saying you should do your job and let us do ours. Because of you, three families have just lost loved ones. You've done enough, Robin. Leave this to us."

"I can't do that, Chief. So long as there's a need, the Titans will be there. Justice does not capitulate to the demands of murderers."

"Then I hope you're prepared to accept the consequences. Any more murders are on your head. I tried to warn you." _Click._

Kid Flash let out a low whistle. "Holy shit. Never a dull moment with you guys, is it?"

Cyborg shook his head. "If what Marcus says is true… that's bad. Really bad."

"This mess keeps getting worse," said Robin. "First Mien, then Raven, now this. More people are going to die. We have to move quickly."

"I know we shouldn't let criminals push us around. But if us appearing in public is going to provoke more killings, maybe we should investigate covertly."

"Maybe." Robin nodded. "The one thing we know now is that Alec Mien's murder was not a mugging. Whoever killed him was watching his house and they don't want us to follow the trail. Cy, you said you got a fix on that IP address. Tell me what you know."

"The address led to a public library. I've got a list of library users who accessed the computers at the time the message was sent. I also grabbed the CCTV footage from outside."

"Good. You keep working on that. Whoever sent that message knew something about Alec Mien's death. The quicker we find them the better. If you need to go out, go incognito. I'm heading back to the Miens' house. I need to find out who attacked them."

"Be careful, man. The Chief said _something _attacked them, not someone. Whatever it was, it could still be there, watching. It took out two armed police officers."

"I'm a Titan," said Robin.

"So was Raven."

"She was taken by surprise. I'm prepared. Don't worry about me. Just track that message."

"Hey, what about me?" asked Kid Flash.

"You stay here with Star and hold the Tower. Follow her instructions."

"All right." Kid Flash looked pleased with that.

"Robin?" Starfire looked at him with her big green eyes full of worry.

"Don't worry, Star. I'll see you soon." He reached out and touched her shoulder for a second. "_X'hal mel punna._" Then he spun around and was gone.

"What did he say?" asked Kid Flash.

"_X'hal mel punna,_" said Starfire. "It means, may X'hal smile upon you. It similar to wishing for the good luck."

"Who's X'hal?"

"She is the _iteva _of Tamaran. She is similar to your Earth gods. She is the mother-warrior, the first Tamaranean, the one who taught our people to fly, to fight, to conquer the stars. She made us great warriors but she left us for we were not worthy of her glory. It is X'hal who dwells in the heart and makes us to fly, to throw the starbolt, who gives us the strength. She lives in all warriors and protects us from harm."

Cyborg looked grim. "Then let's hope X'hal smiles on all of us. We're going to need it."

…

In his room again, Robin opened his locker and tapped on the small screen inside, selecting a disguise. Once he'd chosen, the back wall of the locker shifted, producing a new set of clothes. As he dressed, Robin reflected on the last time he'd been to this room, just a few hours ago. So much had changed in such a short time. The Titans were reeling now from this government takeover bid and the attack on Raven. Control of their future was slipping away.

You had to keep fighting. So long as you did there was hope. Batman had taught him that. Life had taught him too. It would have been easy to give in to despair when his parents had died. His life had hit rock bottom and it had felt like everything was over. Batman had given him a new life, taught him that hope could survive when everything else was taken away. He and Batman had been two lost boys reborn as heroes. They had become symbols, representing the dream that good could come out of evil, that life could come out of death, that justice could come out of chaos, that even the city, lost and alone and despairing could become something better than itself through the power of hope.

It struck Robin now that in a weird way, despite all the ugliness Batman had seen, despite his cynicism and coldness and hardness and all the other defence mechanisms he'd evolved to stop himself from going mad, the Dark Knight was kind of a supreme optimist. He'd had to be, to survive everything he'd been through, to believe that the human race was worth saving despite seeing its ugliest face time and time again. People always disappointed Batman, but he still believed in them, like a distant father hoping that one day his rebellious children would grow up. And that hope was what made him different from the Joker. Any fool – or clown – could be a cynic. It was was easy to say that the world was shit, always had been and always would be, so you might as well do nothing, or worse, help it become even more shit. It took a certain kind of courage or maybe madness to believe that you could change human nature and put something better in its place.

Maybe that was the difference between superheroes and supervillains. They all agreed the world was a terrible place. The question was whether you wanted to make it better or worse. Whether you believed the world could improve or only decay. Whether you had hope. Batman would have liked that. He had a dark sense of humour. So did Joker. Two-face would have liked the binary idea, too, the interplay between light and dark, hope and despair, hero and villain, two sides of the same coin.

Was Robin homesick for Batman and Gotham City? And _Joker_? Two-face?

He had his own city now. This was his place and these were his people. Batman had trained him to restrain his emotions and keep his mind calm and logical, but beneath the surface he felt his soul seething. You come into _my _city, kill _my _people, attack _my _teammate, and think you can get away with it? No. Crime doesn't pay in Jump City. This is my place. I will be there for those who have lost their parents, their loved ones, their hope, those who have no one to stand for them. Four people have died this morning because you were trying to send me a message. Now you've made it personal. I will hunt you down and make you pay.

In a way it was a shame he had been trained by Batman, who had a strong sense of ethics and never took a life if he could help it. Robin understood why it had to be this way. He understood how fragile the line between good and evil was, how playing by the rules was the only thing that kept them from becoming what they hated. But still part of him cried out that jail was too good for murderous scum like this. How he longed to give them a taste of the pain they deserved…

Mr and Mrs Mien were dead along with two police officers. That meant there were more orphans in Jump City than there were last night. He'd been there. He knew what it was to be alone in the world. One day, Jump City would be a place where no children would ever lose their parents.

But today was not that day, and he had work to do.


	7. Scene of the Crime

Starfire sat at the console in the control room, keeping an eye on the security screens. She called up the visual feed from the med bay and saw with sadness that a little green furred animal was lying on a chair beside Raven. Starfire wished she could comfort Beast Boy, but the way people on Earth experienced their emotions was still strange to her. Sometimes they hid what they felt, at other times they pretended to feel things they did not. She knew that offering comfort in the wrong way could do more harm than good, so she restrained herself and left Beast Boy alone. Still, it saddened her.

She switched the feed to Holding Room 1 and this time felt anger as she saw the horrible man who had shot Raven. He was still unconscious, lying flat on a small bed. Humans were very fragile and could be rendered unconscious by the slightest tap on the head. They were weaker than Tamaranean toddlers and surviving in space was out of the question for them. Whichever _iteva _had designed their bodies had done a very a poor job. However… Starfire remembered Robin's silky hair, his strong arms, his soft lips and the way the skin around his eyes crinkled when he smiled. She felt warm inside. Actually, some humans had very nice bodies, now that she thought about it.

It was strange the way they always covered themselves out of shame. Tamaraneans wore garments, but for practical reasons. Her people wore clothing to protect themselves from the elements and to show their rank, clan and role in society, as well as armour to guard against attacks, but they did not consider the naked body a shameful and obscene thing the way humans did. Yet despite covering their own bodies and considering the sight of others' bodies disgusting, humans spent quite a lot of time looking at pictures of naked humans, putting them on newspapers and magazines, and using them to sell merchandise. They had such a strange approach to life; but then, she was an alien to this world and perhaps she was not trying hard enough to understand.

There was a rush of wind, and Kid Flash stood beside her.

"Hey," he said. "I got you a present." He thrust a bunch of flowers at her.

"Oh," said Starfire, taking them. "A collection of severed reproductive organs of vegetable life forms." It did not seem a very practical present to Starfire, but she knew that on Earth people always pretended to like gifts. "Many thanks. They are most delightful. I will enjoy them for a day or two before they shrivel and die. This is a fertility charm, yes? But I am not expecting offspring?"

"Maybe I can help you with that," Kid Flash said, grinning.

"You are not a Tamaranean matchmaker?"

"No… never mind. You don't like the flowers?"

"Oh, I do. But I do not understand what I have done to deserve this gift."

"You deserve them for being so gorgeous and sweet and just a beautiful person."

A broad smile spread across Starfire's face. She was genuinely touched. "Many thanks! You are much too kind, friend. Your words are a far dearer gift to me than these delightful severed reproductive organs."

Kid Flash winced. "Could you please stop saying 'severed' and 'reproductive organs' together? It's kind of making me uncomfortable."

"My apologies."

Kid Flash threw himself into the chair beside Starfire and lay back, folding his arms behind his head and lazily draping one leg over the armrest. "So what's up on the streets?"

"There is no trouble yet, thankfully."

"Any good parties around here?"

"Yes, I believe so. But we are on duty at present."

"You said it yourself, there's no trouble. We could race into a club and be out as soon as there's a distress call."

"I do not think that would be wise. Besides, I do not feel in a very festive mood now that Raven is injured."

"So we're just gonna sit here? It seems a bit pointless. The computer does everything automatically."

"We can find some way to pass the time until a call comes. Perhaps a game?"

"All right. How about strip poker?"

"How does one play this game, please?"

"Well, it's a card game. And every time you lose a round you have to take off an item of clothing."

"And what would be the point of this, please?"

"It's fun."

"It does not sound very stimulating to me."

"You'd be surprised. I'm sure we'd find some way to stimulate you."

"Very well."

"What? I didn't think you'd actually say yes."

"I am interested to learn more about Earth customs."

"Trouble is, I think Robin would be mad with me if I taught you this one. No, let's do something else. Hey, why don't you tell me a little about yourself? You said you're from a place called Tamaran, right? So what's it like?"

Starfire became sombre. "It was a beautiful planet once, a paradise among the stars. But the Gordanians attacked again and again, ravaging our world until only barren waste remained. We have become warriors, leaving our peaceful ways behind. It is said that one day X'hal will give us the strength to crush our enemies. After that day the time for war shall be over. We shall return to our peaceful past and Tamaran will bloom again."

"Wow," said Kid Flash. "I come from Blue Valley, Nebraska. Not quite as exciting as your hometown."

"Oh, no! I would find your Blue Valley as exciting as you find my Tamaran."

"Somehow I doubt that. Even the cows try to escape before they die of boredom."

"Oh, how sad. But I suppose that would save you having to slaughter them."

The computer chimed. "_Incoming call. General public channel. Caller identity: Jerome Santos, IT technician."_

"Accept," Starfire said.

_"Uh, hello? Is this the Titans?"_

"Hello, friend. I am Starfire. How may I be of assistance?"

_"Oh, wow! I can't believe I'm talking to Starfire! Uh… hey, you're my favourite Titan."_

"Many thanks, friend. How may I be of assistance?"

_"Hey, uh… what are you wearing?"_

"This is a law enforcement agency, not an adult chat line," Kid Flash said sternly.

_"Right, sorry. Uh, who's that?"_

"Kid Flash. And before you ask, I'm wearing a custom one piece aerodynamic suit that clings to every inch of my fine, fine body."

_"Sweet. Kid Flash! Have you joined the Titans?"_

"Nah, I'm just helping out. Before I hang up, is there a point to this call, or did you just wanna waste our time?"

_"Sorry, sorry. There is a point. Well, uh, you know those True Human League guys? They're having some kind of meeting and rally downtown. I thought you guys'd wanna know about it. I'm a normal human myself, but my sister's married to a mutant and he's a really nice guy. I hate those Human League bastards. They just go round spreading hate."_

"Thank you for informing us of this," said Starfire, "but we will not take any action. We may not agree with the Human League's opinions, but so long as they are gathering and marching peacefully they have every right to do so."

_"Well, it's peaceful at the moment. But it could get violent, though. You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff they're saying about you guys. Especially you, Starfire, 'cos you're an alien and they can't stand that. I think you guys should keep an eye on them."_

"I thank you for your call, Mr Santos. We will definitely consider our options carefully. Have a nice day."

_"Starfire, I love you! Is it true you're going out with Robin? 'Cos if you ever break up with him, baby, give me a call."_

"Have a nice day, Mr Santos." Starfire pressed a button.

"That was awkward," observed Kid Flash. "You're very popular."

"People on Earth have been so kind and welcoming. Sometimes it does make me uncomfortable. I feel I have not done anything to deserve it."

"Maybe they can see something that you can't." _Like your ass, for instance._

"Perhaps." Starfire sighed. "I am saddened by the fact that many in the city are turning against us. All we have done is to try and help."

"Hey, you can't please everyone. There are always gonna people out there who hate you. As long as you know you're doing the right thing, that's all you have to worry about."

"You are probably right. Kid Flash? Let us go out for a while. I feel the urge for some of the fresh air."

Starfire didn't want to leave Beast Boy and Raven alone, but she suddenly felt sad and claustrophobic, trapped inside this metal tower. She wanted to feel the sunshine on her face and the wind in her hair. She wanted to feel the lightness of her body as the sky opened around her. She wanted… well, she wanted many things. But life was not always about what one wanted.

…

Number six Riverview Street was now a major crime scene. Four police officers stood guard outside the house. On the street itself, another two officers patrolled around the cordon that had been set up around the large bloodstain that darkened the ground. Concerned and curious residents milled around, keeping their distance. The reporters and camera crews were pushier. Every once in a while one of the patrolling officers would warn people to move back.

A fashionably dressed young man with blonde, spiky hair emerged from the crowd. He ducked under the cordon and the police officers confronted him, but he spoke to them in a low voice and they backed away. He knelt beside the bloodstain, put his right hand to the side of his dark glasses and stared at the blood intently. Then he paced around the stain, scanning the ground. Once he was satisfied, he vaulted over the cordon with ease and headed towards the house. Afterwards the people recording the scene on cameras and phones would find that their devices had been jammed for a specific ten minute window. Their files had been selectively corrupted, and no trace of the man would appear on their machines.

As Robin walked up the driveway, the police officers by the door moved to bar his way.

"What do you think you're doing, kid?" one of them said.

"Investigating a crime scene by the powers vested in me by the Meta-human Law Enforcement Committee," Robin said, reaching up to touch the side of his dark "glasses." They lightened for a couple of seconds, revealing his trademark mask. The police officers looked frightened.

"Uh, we weren't expecting you."

Robin reached out and laid a friendly hand on the nearest police officer's arm, gripping it perhaps a little tighter than was necessary. "Look, buddy. One of my men has been attacked and is in a critical condition. I am seriously pissed off right now and this is not the time to get in my way, _do you understand me? _I was fighting crime with the best when you were still in the process of dropping out of community college, so I don't need you to tell me how to do my job. Now, I can either be _your_ problem... " Robin squeezed the man's arm for emphasis, "… or I can be the problem of whoever's inside. The choice is yours. Choose quickly."

The officers chose quickly, parting to let Robin through.

"Good man," he said as he swept past them.

Inside, the house was a mess of detectives and forensic scientists poring over the place with little machines, searching for evidence. Robin found Police Chief Marcus in the living room. The chief looked unhappy, but not surprised, to see Robin.

"So you came," he said wearily.

"I came incognito," said Robin. "No one knows I'm here but you and your men. So if the killer finds out, we'll know who to blame."

"Are you suggesting I would pass information to a murderer?"

"I'm suggesting, Chief, that you get on with your job and let me get on with mine. I'm not in the mood for any of your legalistic crap right now, so if you have any complaints, we'll deal with them in court later."

"Fine," said the Chief resignedly. "As you can see, the killer struck in the living room first."

The bodies of the two police officers were sprawled on the carpet in front of the sofa. Robin bent over the male officer first. He was lying on his front, fully clothed. His shirt was soaked with blood. Something had sliced open the back of his neck, almost decapitating him. There were two further cuts across his back.

"You moved him," said Robin. "Was he lying on his back when you found him?"

"Yeah. We rolled him over to have a look at the wounds. The killer struck while his back was turned."

Robin tapped the side of his mask, activating the video recorder. He examined the cuts on the man's neck and back. "Cuts made by the same implement," he observed. "Unusually clean edge. I don't recognise it. A single strike from the posterior of the neck almost removed the whole head. The vertebrae were severed. The bone has actually been sliced through, with some breakage around the point of impact. This was done in one blow. An extremely sharp, heavy weapon driven by a lot of force." With his gloved right hand, he probed the cut to the neck, while flicking through spectral filters on his mask with his left hand. "No obvious foreign particles in the wounds." He swabbed a sample from the wound and popped it into a plastic bag. "Strange. The cuts on the posterior inferior abdomen look similar to that on the neck, but the cutting edge appears to have been broader. The man's gun is still in his holster and there are no other marks on his body. He was taken from the back and dead before he knew it." He switched on his mask's magnifier and carefully examined the body and surrounding area for traces of foreign material. He found nothing.

Next he examined the female officer. She had turned towards the attacker, but not soon enough. Three cuts: one to the left side of her neck and two to her chest and upper abdomen. "The attacker moved quickly. The second officer had no time to react." Again, no obviously foreign material.

Mrs Mien had been running to the front door when she'd died. The killer had done something strange: first, he, she or it had sliced the back of Mrs Mien's feet open. The tendons had been severed. "The killer wanted to stop her running away without killing her. Perhaps the killer spoke to her about something." When the killer was finished, Mrs Mien had been disposed of by the same three stroke pattern.

The last object of interest was the wall in the lounge room painted with the message for the Titans. Robin swabbed it and scanned it.

"Any idea how the killer got in?" he asked.

"No. No signs of breaking and entering. We're dusting for prints and looking for DNA residue."

"Let me know if anything comes up," Robin said.

"If it concerns you, we'll let you know."

"Can't you read, Chief? The killer wrote my team's name on the wall. This whole case concerns us."

"My people are handling it."

"Your deputy is dead, his wife is dead and the police officers you sent to protect his house are also dead. It looks like you could use all the help you can get."

It took Robin two hours to comb through the house to his satisfaction, and that was rushing by his standards. After that he spoke to the two police officers who'd found the bodies. Once he was done, he bid Police Chief Marcus farewell and took his leave. He exited by the back door, vaulted over the back fence, grappled onto the roof of a nearby house and raced away across the tiles like a shadow. No one who'd seen him enter the house saw him leave, and by the time anyone thought to wonder where the young man had gone, he had long since disappeared.

…

Mrs Bhaskar hated going into her office on weekends, but whenever there was a conference on she ended up putting in loads of unpaid hours. She had a perfectionist streak in her that drove her to outdo herself in any new venture. She couldn't rely on her workers to fulfil her vision for they were far too lazy and incompetent. Every once in a while she got a good one, like that girl Lucy Tan who'd just come out of school but had really been on top of her field, or that older gentleman Mr Phillips. There had been Malik, too…

Of course, it had been a shame what had happened to him, but she'd had to let him go. The truth was that mutants made normal people uncomfortable, and in a field like theirs where it was vitally important to attract sponsors, they had to present the _right kind of image. _She'd felt bad about it for a while, but she'd reassured herself with the thought that he would have found another job soon enough. He was a bright young man and these days there were lots of mutant support groups and affirmative action movements. Why, he was probably doing better now than he was before…

As she dropped her keys into her handbag and locked up her desk, she felt a cool gust of wind ruffle her hair. That puzzled her, because she didn't remember opening her window, but there it was, wide open. She was getting old and senile like her mother, she'd be forgetting her own head next…

When she turned back to her desk, there was an envelope on it. An actual paper envelope. That definitely hadn't been there before. And besides, who sent paper notes these days? Not colleagues at work, that was for sure.

Telling herself she was being silly for feeling worried, she picked it up and slit it open. Something heavy toppled out onto the desk. She picked it up and turned it over, feeling a mixture of excitement and fear. It was a streamlined red object like a winged metallic bird. They sold them in toy shops, but somehow she knew this was not a children's toy or a collector's imitation. This was a real one. One of _his_.

There was a note in the envelope. Afraid now, she withdrew it and unfolded it. Her eyes read it. She was trembling now, she didn't know whether from terror or excitement.

_All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing._

_Being a mutant is not a crime._

_Give Malik Tiwari back his job Mrs Bhaskar._

_Who will stand up for you in your time of need?_

_Justice will be done._

_I am watching._

There was no signature. There was no need for one. She looked at the open window, then picked up the birdarang again. For a long time she was silent. Then she put the note down, picked up her phone and dialled a number.

"Hello, Malik Tiwari? Hi, this is Jasmine Bhaskar. There's been a terrible mistake…"


	8. Meeting

At six o'clock that evening Robin, Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy gathered around the table in Meeting Room 1. Kid Flash had not been invited, for this meeting was strictly Titans-only.

"The first item on the agenda," said Robin, "is the appointment of our new leader. Councilwoman Farrell has informed me that he will be joining us on Monday and his leadership will be effective immediately. She hasn't told me who the leader is yet, but she referred to him as 'he', so we can assume it's a male. She said she thought I'd be pleasantly surprised with the choice, which I think is her way of saying 'screw you'."

"I'm glad you brought this up, Robin," said Cyborg, rising to his feet, "because there's a resolution that I'd like to propose." He cleared his throat and read from a tablet held in his hands. _"Whereas we, the Teen Titans, whilst recognising the importance of being held accountable to the people of Jump City, are an independent organisation who will not allow our internal workings to be manipulated by the government, we hereby resolve that: 1. Robin is and always will be our leader, until such time as he sees fit to resign, or is unfit to perform his duties; 2. We will give the appearance of obeying the Meta-human Law Enforcement Committee and its appointed leader, until such time as; 3. We take that asshole Councilwoman Farrell and her allies down."_

The resolution received much enthusiastic support from Starfire and Beast Boy. When Cyborg put it to the vote, three hands instantly shot into the air. Robin looked from one of his teammates to another, touched by their confidence in him.

"Thank you," he said, raising his hand.

"Resolution passed unanimously and adopted, effective immediately," said Cyborg, reseating himself and making a note. "When this new leader arrives on Monday, he's going to want full access to the Tower's computers. I've fixed it so that it'll appear he has full access, but any sensitive information he doesn't need to know about, like our investigation on Councilwoman Farrell, will be accessible only to us."

"Good work, Cy," said Robin. "When he gets here, I want everyone to be on their best behaviour. Hopefully this is just a temporary arrangement. Do what he says and make things as painless as possible. For all we know this guy could be a good person, though something tells me he's one of Farrell's cronies. So that's that. Which brings us to Raven. I think Cy has some good news for us." Robin looked at Cyborg.

"I'm not sure I'd call it good news at this stage. Better news, maybe. You guys know that Raven was put into a coma. Well, the EEG is picking up some unusual brain waves. I haven't studied Raven's powers but I think they've activated. She seems to be in a trance. If that's the case, it may mean her body is healing itself at an accelerated rate."

"That is splendid news," said Starfire. Beast Boy nodded vigorously.

"What about the guy who attacked her?" asked Beast Boy.

"Well, here's the thing," Cyborg said. "It seems that the attack on Raven happened around the same time as the murders in Mien's house."

"So they were working together?"

"It looks that way," said Robin. "It would be too much of a coincidence for two separate killers to target the house at once. Whoever murdered Mrs Mien and the policemen left a message trying to scare us off. What better way to get that message across than to kill the two Titans who visited the house at the time?"

"But why'd they wait until Raven and I'd left the house? If they wanted to kill us all, why not do it when we were all in there together?"

"Good question," said Robin. "Notice that the two attacks employed very different methods. Whoever targeted you and Raven attacked from a distance using a rifle. The murders of Mrs Mien and the police were done up close by a cutting weapon. Here's what I think happened. We Titans have been around for a while and people have been trying unsuccessfully to kill us for a long time. We have a reputation for being hard to kill, at least in close combat."

"So that's why the guy used a rifle to take us down," said Beast Boy. "They couldn't have attacked while we were in the house 'cos we would've overpowered them."

"Cowards!" spat Starfire.

"Whoever killed Deputy Chief Mien must have suspected we would come and talk to his wife," Robin continued. "They were watching the house so that in the event we turned up, they could catch us off guard and pick us off with rifle fire. As it happened, the gunman was taken down before he could shoot both of you. His friends probably weren't expecting that. Maybe they attacked the house out of revenge for capturing their buddy, and to send us a message to stop investigating."

"If they wanted us to stop investigating, they picked the wrong way to go about it," Beast Boy said. "Attacking Raven was pretty much the one thing they could've done to guarantee we'd come after them."

"Exactly," said Robin. "Hang on to that thought, Beast Boy. This all began with Alec Mien's murder. When someone's killed, a good place to start is to ask who benefits. Who has a motive?"

"Any criminal in the city."

"But why kill one particular policeman and go after his family? Was Alec Mien involved in drug busts, gangs? Any operations that could've made him powerful enemies?"

"He always stuck his neck out," Cyborg observed. "He was one of those rare people willing to put their lives on the line for the city. I could request a list of his assignments from the JCPD. They probably wouldn't give it to us, though. I could always obtain it covertly."

"Not yet, Cyborg. We'll give JCPD one last chance. With this message in the Miens' house we should be able to convince a magistrate that we have cause to investigate Mien's murder. That should give us access to his body as well as his records. If they still don't comply, I may have to ask you to get creative. So, there could be some criminal groups who wanted Mien dead. Anybody else who would benefit from his death?"

"Well, Police Chief Marcus would. They two of them were always at loggerheads."

"That's it!" said Beast Boy. "He killed Mien! That's why he's been trying to block our investigation. It all makes sense!"

"Hold on there, Beast Boy," Robin said. "Remember, just because someone's an unpleasant person doesn't mean he's a criminal. Marcus has been blocking all our investigations since he got the job. It's typical behaviour for him and it fits with his anti-Titan agenda. On its own, that isn't suspicious. Anyway, there are lots of good reasons to think Marcus _didn't _murder Mien."

"Like what?"

"Well, for one thing, Marcus is a high ranking police officer. He's spent his whole life building up a career in law enforcement. He wouldn't jeopardise that unless he had a really, really good reason. So he had some political disagreements with Mien. That's not enough to warrant murder. If he wanted to get rid of Mien, why not use his political contacts to force Mien out of his job? Marcus has good friends on the council, including Councilwoman Farrell."

"What if Marcus did have a very good reason?" asked Cyborg thoughtfully.

Robin looked at him. "The note?" he asked.

Cyborg nodded.

"Huh?" Beast Boy said.

Cyborg tapped on his tablet and a holographic message appeared in the centre of the table. It was a familiar looking email.

"'Alec Mien died for the truth'," said Cyborg. "The note we received this morning. The one that started everything. What if Alec Mien found something out? Something big."

"Big enough to warrant murder," said Robin. "But assuming Marcus was the murderer, again, there are so many things that don't make sense. Why kill Mien in such an obvious way? Why not have him poisoned or make it look he was shot by a criminal while on a mission? There would be dozens of ways to make Mien's death look non-suspicious. Why choose this way? Why slaughter his family and two police officers, and paint a message to us in blood on a wall? These are not the actions of someone who wants to get away with a crime. It's almost like they're challenging us to try and stop them. That's why I don't think it's Marcus. I think it's someone who kills for fun, someone who thinks they're equal to the Titans."

"Slade?" asked Beast Boy.

Robin shook his head. "It's not his style to kill so many people. The butchered corpses, the writing in blood? He's way more subtle than that. When he kills, he goes in quick and clean and no one even knows there's been a murder. We've never seen anything like this before. It's like something the Joker would do just to rile up Batman."

"So we have a new insane criminal in Jump City," Beast Boy said. "Sweet. I guess we should be proud we're attracting a higher class of psychopath now."

"Cy, how're you going with tracing the note?"

"I went to the library and identified the user whose account was used to send the email. Her name's Jessica Williamson. She's a retired school teacher. She has no police contacts. I had a look at her library browsing history and it's harmless stuff. She spends most of her time online looking at kittens and downloading recipes and arts and crafts. Sending cryptic emails to Titans Tower is completely out of character. Someone must have borrowed her account. I dusted the keyboard for fingerprints but it's not going to be much good. A public library keyboard will have half the city's prints on it."

Robin nodded. "Starfire, you go and talk to Ms Williamson. See if you can find out who might have taken her card. Take Kid Flash with you. His knowledge of Earth might be useful."

Beastboy said, "Are you sure you want Starfire to spend so much time with the world's sleaziest man?"

"I know you don't like Kid Flash, but he offered to help and I need all hands on deck right now."

"He looks like he wants all hands on Starfire."

Robin frowned. "Not now, Beast Boy. So that's the message taken care of for now. Cy, any leads on the guy who shot Raven?"

"I looked at his gun. It's a standard police issue Flemington 990 sniper rifle. Based on the serial number, it's part of a shipment that was brought in five years ago. It was supposed to go to the JCPD but the ship carrying the guns was hit before it came into the harbour. Those guns are scattered all over the criminal world now. It's not gonna help in tracing the origin of the attacker. I did pick up some weird particles on the bipod. Some kind of paint residue. That could tell us where the gun was stored. I also went back to the scene and found the bullet and cartridge, but I haven't had time to analyse them yet. They may give us more info. Ammo is interesting because it has to be replaced constantly."

"Good work. Keep it up. What about the gunman?"

"Still in Holding Room 1."

"I'll interview him tonight. Then you and I can get onto full analysis of the materials I brought back from the Miens' house."

"Sounds like a plan."

"What am I gonna do?" asked Beast Boy.

"You are going to start researching Councilwoman Farrell. But first I have a mission for you."

Cyborg informed everyone he had designed a mod for their costumes that would give them a warning signal if they were targeted by a laser guided scope. Starfire objected to wearing it, saying that she preferred to travel free of encumbrances, and she wouldn't want a device that gave her an unfair advantage in a fight because that would be unsporting. Robin cajoled her into promising to wear it at least until the mastermind behind the attack on Raven was caught, saying that unless she did he would be very concerned about her safety. Robin then instructed them not to talk to the media about their new leader or Raven's condition.

"The less they know about what's happening, the better," he said.

With that, the meeting ended and the Titans went their separate ways, except for Robin and Beast Boy, who stayed back and had a quiet conversation.


	9. Night is for Lovers

On his way to the holding room, Robin was accosted by Starfire.

"Robin, I wish to speak with you," she said earnestly.

Robin had some idea of what this was about. "I've gotta interview the prisoner now, Star. We'll talk another time."

_"No." _Starfire seized Robin's arm in her deceptively strong grip. "We will speak _now._"

"Okay."

The emerald fire in her eyes died. She released him and looked down, no longer a mighty alien princess but a confused little girl. "Robin, I feel that since we left the Japan you have been avoiding me."

"What are you talking about, Star? I've spoken to you loads of times."

"But we have not spoken of the important thing. What happened in the Japan…"

"It's just Japan, Star. Not 'the Japan.'"

"But please, this country is called _the _United States? Then why not _the _Japan?"

"Well -"

She cut him off with a raised hand. "It matters not. This is a matter of the grammar. This is not the important thing."

There was silence. Unspoken thoughts hung in the air between them like a fog, pink with embarrassment.

"Robin, after you rescued me I… you… our oral cavities came into contact in the manner which my people call _thenmaas. _For us, it signifies a transfer of language. But on Earth you call it the _kiss, _which is a gesture reserved for one whom you care for. Is this not so?"

"Yeah."

"Then am I to assume that you care for me?"

Robin shuffled his feet. "Uh… well… it's a leader's job to care about all the members of his team, Starfire."

"But I have not seen you giving the _thenmaas _to Beast Boy."

"No…"

"Then… you care for me more than the others?"

It was Robin's turn to look down.

"Robin… please help me to understand. I am so confused by your ways. My people are simple. Our hearts are open. We speak our minds and give voice to our feelings. On Earth, your hearts are closed, your feelings hidden from one another. When you are angry, you smile. When you are sad, you laugh. When you care for someone, you turn away from them. Everything you do is backwards! I have grown to love your people, but I cannot pretend to understand them. So now tell me truly, Robin. Do you care for me?"

"Yes, Star. I do."

"Then why do you flee from me? Am I hideously unattractive to you?"

"No! No, you're… perfect."

"Is it because I am a Tamaranean and you are a human? You wish to preserve the purity of your gene pool?"

"No!" Robin burst out angrily. "I'm not like that!"

"Then why?"

Robin growled in frustration and messed up his hair. "Look, Star, do we have to do this now?"

"Yes! Live in the present, for it is the only time you have."

"Is that an ancient Tamaranean proverb?"

"No, Beast Boy sent me an email with advice in it. And pictures of juvenile animals."

"Star, I don't want to hurt you."

"You hurt me by avoiding me."

"Everyone I get close to ends up messed up. Or dead."

"Robin, I was a slave. I have been through things a thousand times worse than you could imagine. I am not afraid. I have wept in the dark night of suffering, wishing for death to release me from my bonds. But I did not break. I survived. And now I am here on Earth, and I have met you and I… I'm so happy, Robin!" Tears came to those inhumanly green eyes and overflowed, spilling down golden cheeks. "Why should we deny ourselves a chance of happiness out of fear? Be bold, Robin! I have always thought of you as brave. Why does your courage fail you now? I saw Raven lying in her bed and I thought, next time it could be you or me, and we would never… never have the chance…"

"Bad things could happen to you! To us!"

"Bad things could always happen, Robin! This is life! It is sweetness and bitterness, joy and sorrow, good and bad! We cannot have one without the other, any more than we can have day without night. Do you think cutting yourself off from all warmth and affection will save you? Save the ones you love?"

"No," said Robin slowly, shivering. "It didn't work for Batman."

"Then why do you hesitate?" She drew closer to him.

He shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know if this is the right thing. I'm… confused." He didn't like being confused. He liked being in control. Crime, detection, criminal psychology, fighting… he knew where he stood with those things. This was something different, something new.

"I do not know either, Robin," Starfire whispered. Her mouth came closer and closer. "Let us find out together. What have we to lose? And what have we to gain?"

Her mouth shone like a wet pink-petalled flower. He closed his eyes. She gave him the _thenmaas. _When her lips touched his, his whole body shuddered. He could smell her, her skin, her hair, feel the wetness of her tears against his face, the softness of her arms around his. For an instant he was floating in the sky of Tamaran while alien stars glinted overhead and twin moons flooded the heavens with gold and silver fire. He felt like a dam inside him had broken, leaving him light and happy for the first time in forever. Part of him that was dead came alive again. Tears pricked his eyes. They broke apart.

His eyelids opened reluctantly and he saw Starfire watching him.

"Well, Robin?" she asked. "Did I do the kiss properly?"

He cleared his throat. "Not bad for a first try," he said hoarsely. "Let's do it again and I'll let you know."

…

Cyborg sat back in his chair, feeling pretty pleased with himself. He'd spent the last twenty minutes isolating and identifying the particles found on the sniper's bipod. It had turned out to contain a mixture of rust, a type of waterproof enamel and sea salt. That meant these weapons had probably been stored in a container on a dock at some point. There were a few active shipping docks in Jump City, but this got them one step closer to their goal. Robin would be impressed.

"Whatcha doin'?" Beast Boy asked boredly, entering the lab. "There's this really funny video I wanna show you on Youtube. It's got a cat fighting a bear."

"Not now, Beast Boy, I'm working on the case. Say, did Robin mention anything to you about where he was going?"

"Nope. Why?"

"He said he was going to interview the prisoner at seven. It's almost nine now. He left the Tower with Starfire a while ago and they're not answering their communicators."

"Maybe they finally decided to get a room."

"Maybe," Cyborg said doubtfully. "It's not like him to not answer his communicator, though. Not without warning. I'm a little worried. We can't be too careful these days. There's someone out there who really wants us dead."

"Someone always wants us dead."

"Yeah, but this guy's come closer than anyone has in a long time." Cyborg glanced at the med bay feed, where Raven lay prone in bed. "Computer, give me the last footage of Starfire and Robin before they left the Tower."

On screen, the roof of the Tower appeared under the purple-black evening sky. Starfire held Robin in her arms and floated into the air. Their silhouettes soared away and blended into the darkness.

"Boring," said Beast Boy. "I'll show you the cat video next time." He spun around and began walking away.

"Computer, trace Robin, rewind five minutes," Cyborg ordered. Instantly, the image on screen changed. It now showed the corridor outside the holding room. Robin and Starfire stood next to each other. They were…

Cyborg coughed embarrassedly and stopped the replay, but Beast Boy's pointy ears didn't miss much.

"What?" he said, trotting back to Cyborg's side. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Computer! Replay last footage."

The image returned. Beast Boy's jaw dropped open. After a few seconds an enormous grin spread over his face as though ten issues of his favourite comic had come out at once.

"Oh my god!" he spluttered. "Look! Robin! Star! They're eating each other's face! Oh my god!"

Cyborg cancelled the playback again. "That's enough, BB. It's a violation of their privacy."

"You're the one who did it, not me! This is even better than the cat vs. bear video! Oh my god! How many hits would it get if I put it on Youtube!"

"You'll do no such thing," said Cyborg sternly. Beast Boy looked as though he was about to start dancing. "I have to say though, it's about time. I thought for sure they were gonna be a couple after what happened in Tokyo. It's time Robin got a girlfriend. It'll be good for him."

Beast Boy jerked suddenly as though someone had smacked him. He didn't look happy any more. He turned and walked away again.

"BB? BB?"

After a few minutes, the computer showed a large green bird flapping away into the night.

_"Beast Boy has left the Tower," _the computer said helpfully.

Cyborg took a deep breath and let it go. "Way to go, Vic. You're a damn fool."

…

Dance music pounded, rattling the glasses, making the floor tremble. Normally Beast Boy would have been on the floor busting a move, but today he sat at the bar drinking his fifteenth Midnight Madness. Usually when he got upset, he just needed to find a good nightclub and have a few drinks and after a while he would forget what was bothering him. Today, though, he couldn't leave the memories behind.

He had flown straight from the Tower to the park as he'd done hundreds of times before. He'd dipped his wings and dived straight at the mountainside, flaring at the last minute and spiralling down to the ground. He became human and ran up the path, hoping, praying that _this _time things would be different.

The pedestal was still empty. The plaque on it still read:

_TERRA_

_A TEEN TITAN_

_A TRUE FRIEND_

"Liar!" he yelled, kicking the plaque, battering it with his knuckles. He became a gorilla, huge and powerful, and brought his fists down on the pedestal, hitting it as hard as he could. All he succeeded in doing was hurting himself. The stone couldn't feel pain. It was cold and unfeeling like her. Bitch. Bitch. He hated her. He loved her. He wanted to forget her. He needed her. One day he would smash that pedestal into pieces, or carry it off and drop it into the sea. But not today.

He had become an owl again, flying, not caring where the wind took him. His wing muscles ached but he kept going. Perhaps he would fall out of the sky and the Earth would swallow him up. He would disappear, escape from all this pain. Like her. She had just thrown her life away and vanished. How lucky she was. _I go where the wind, takes me, y'know? The Earth is my home. _He should have listened to her. Should have listened.

"Hey buddy, bring me gin an' tonic," Beast Boy said, waving his glass at the bartender.

"Ain't you had enough? Maybe you should slow down, buddy."

"Did I ask your advice? I'm fucking Beast Boy, sir. Want me to prove it?"

"I believe you, sir. Don't get too many green customers."

"You makin' fun of me?"

"No, no. Here's your drink."

"That's more like it." He downed it in one, signalled for another. He saw a flash of long blonde hair and his heart leapt into his throat. Terra! No, it was some other chick. She was older and had a curvy, womanly figure, her breasts spilling out of her top. Terra had been skinny as a stick. But if he squinted, there was a similarity. He smiled at her. Somehow she ended up sitting next to him.

"I'm Beast Boy," he said. "What's your name?"

She giggled and tossed her hair. He didn't hear what she said, but somehow she ended up on his lap. Then the two of them were alone. She was tugging him by the hand, pulling him along a corridor somewhere. His head was spinning. There was a door with gold numbers on it. She opened it, pulled him. The door closed. Then darkness took him, sweet and merciful, and at last he forgot her face.


	10. Birds Flyin' High

"You think the boss is gonna stay holed up in here forever?" asked Joe.

The four of them were on guard duty, each armed with a semiautomatic weapon. Joe and Luke were sitting on a couple of crates. Nathan and Rick stood before the doors with their guns strapped on, looking out into the cool night.

"If I double crossed Slade I would bunker down too," Nathan said. He was a short man with a large blue dragon tattoo on his left bicep. In his opinion he was far too smart to hang out with these assholes, but he understood why he had to do grunt work. He only hoped the higher ups would recognise his value and promote him quickly.

"I remember when the boss ran the Westside," said Joe in his nasal, whiny voice. "Now he's scared to come out."

"Shut the hell up, asshole," spat Luke, turning on him. "You wanna get us all killed?" Luke was a vicious bastard who would murder his own mother for ten bucks.

"I'm just sayin'. You guys ever wonder if we're on the wrong side?"

"No," said Nathan. "Listen, Slade is tough. But he's an assassin. He's only dangerous if you're down on his list. He's just one man. We're a whole army. He can't stand up to us."

"Then how come we're hidin'?"

"It's just until the Titans go down. Then we'll take the whole city. Anyway, we're not hiding. It's a tactical retreat."

A chilling cackle tore the night, coming from everywhere at once. The four men sprang to attention, aiming their weapons into the dark.

"What the hell was that?" hissed Joe.

"Don't be scared, boys." The voice was low, dripping honey. "I'm not going to hurt you." There was a jingle of bells, and she stepped into the circle of light cast by the streetlamps.

"Her!" said Joe.

"Yes, me," she agreed. "Careful now. You'd better lower those guns before someone gets hurt."

"A-are you meant to be here, Your Highness?" stammered Nathan. "I mean…"

"Ooh, what good manners you have." She smiled at him, showing a row of pearly white teeth. It was the kind of grin a shark might give to a seal pup. "I'll remember you. As a matter of fact, your boss is expecting me. Go ahead and call him. But don't take too long. You don't want me getting bored. I might start looking for a way to entertain myself."

Nathan fumbled with his phone and got through to the boss. He confirmed that her story was legit. "He's expecting you, ma'am. Please go in." They opened the doors for the Queen and let her through. Once the doors had closed behind her, the four of them looked at one another in disbelief.

"Holy shit," whispered Joe. "I was shittin' myself the whole time. When I saw her I thought we were gonna die."

"We still might," Luke said grimly.

"I thought she was just a myth, like the Southside Strangler."

"Stop worrying," said Nathan, putting on a show of bravado. "She's working with the boss now. It's good to have her on our side."

"She's a maniac," said Joe. "She must be. You know who her father is?"

"I know. And like I said, even if she's a loose cannon, it's better to have her on our team than someone else's." He said it firmly, almost as though he believed it.

…

Beast Boy dreamed. He was walking in a field of golden flowers, chasing a girl with a fall of sunlight for hair. She peeped over her shoulder and laughed at him as she skipped away. He laughed too, running after her. The air was speckled with butterflies of every colour. The sunshine poured over him, filling him with happiness.

"Come on, Beast Boy!" she called.

"Wait up! I'm coming!"

When she smiled back, he could see the blue of the sky reflected in her eyes. Her slender limbs propelled her away like a leaping gazelle. He redoubled his pace, tearing after her as fast as he could, but she drifted further and further from him. Try as he might, he couldn't catch up.

"Terra!" he called, panic in his voice now. "Terra!"

She vanished over the gentle curve of a hill. The sun disappeared. Shadow fell over the land, blotting everything grey. The flowers were gone, replaced by thorn bushes and cold black gravel that crunched under his feet. The dark sky was dotted with icy stars.

Beast Boy's limbs slowed, heavy as lead. He dragged himself up the hill. It was more like a mountain now. He didn't want to reach the top any more. He was afraid of what he would find there.

Breathing heavily, he gained the summit and saw her. She stood with her back to him, shrouded in a blue hood and cloak that rippled gently although there was no wind. He took a step towards her, then another. She turned.

"Raven?"

Her dark violet eyes were blank. She looked troubled in a vague, distant way.

"Beast Boy," she whispered. She stretched her hands out towards him, pale and grey as sick moonlight. He reached out to touch her. Her fingers felt cold as marble.

_Bang!_

Beast Boy opened his eyes and sat bolt upright, the blanket sliding from him. He blinked a few times. His throat was dry and his head hurt. There was a woman lying next to him with blonde hair, but she was not Terra. Her body gently rose and fell with each breath.

He had this weird feeling that Raven was in the room with him. The back of his neck prickled. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw shadows crawling on the edges of the walls, and he turned towards them expecting to see… something.

Memories of last night came back to him in fragments. What had happened to him? He'd lost it again, all over a girl who'd never loved him. _Forget about her. Forget. It's over, you dumbass. Stop beating yourself up. _Why couldn't he just move on? He was only hurting himself.

He scrambled out of bed, got dressed and opened the window. He paused at the sill and looked back at the bed for a second.

_"Caw caw caaaw." _On a rooftop somewhere in the city, a crow croaked its greeting to the new day.

He became a hawk and took flight in the early morning light.

…

Cyborg hummed to himself as he squirted light polyunsaturated oil into the bottom of the frying pan. The Tower had an automatic food preparation device, but nothing beat good old-fashioned bacon and eggs made by human hands. Well, fifty percent human. Besides, there was something relaxing about cooking food yourself.

"Birds flyin' high, you know how I feel. Sun in the sky, you know how I feel." _Crack. _The eggshells broke against the side of the pan, spilling their contents into the pan's base. The slithery yolks and gooey whites hissed and spit wonderfully, bringing up bubbles of golden oil. Even before becoming a Titan, Cyborg had been an athlete and had stuck to a strict diet. It was rare that he allowed himself unhealthy food like this, but he thought he deserved a treat after the work he'd put in last night.

_Seems like I'm doing most of the work around here,_ he thought to himself. Robin and Starfire had returned just before midnight. Beast Boy was still nowhere to be seen, which was probably for the best, because the sight of Cyborg cooking his animal friends would have only upset him.

"Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel." Cyborg slid in a couple of bacon rashers, which made satisfying crackling noises as they wallowed in oil. "Mmm." The aroma of frying pig wafted through the kitchen.

The doors to the living room breezed open and Kid Flash strolled in, stretching. It was the first time Cyborg had seen him moving at something resembling normal human speed. His red hair was tousled and he wore a pair of red pyjamas instead of his usual suit.

"Morning, Tin Man," the speedster said. "Man, did I have a good night's sleep. That was your guest bedroom? You sure got a nice place here. Something smells great."

"Oh, no, this is mine. My preciousss. Make your own."

"Chillax. Lord of the Rings references? I didn't think you were a geek."

"Beast Boy would have appreciated it."

"Just proves my point, doesn't it. Say, where is Shrek Junior, anyway?"

"He hasn't come b -"

"Yeah, I don't really care. Where's Starfire?"

"I dunno. I haven't seen her since she went out last night. With _Robin._" Cyborg let that sink in for a couple of seconds. He flipped the bacon and worried at the eggs with his spatula.

Kid Flash looked troubled. "Is there something going on between Starfire and Robin?"

"Yeah." Cyborg tried not to sound too gleeful. "There's been something going on between them for a long time."

"Oh." Kid Flash slumped a little. Then he said, "I don't suppose Starfire is one of those modern girls who believes in open relationships and free love?"

Cyborg shrugged. "Well, from what I understand of Tamaranean culture, they're quite big on openness and free love…"

"Really?" Kid Flash perked up.

"But not on free sex."

"Oh." Kid Flash sagged again. His disappointment didn't last long, though. Apparently his super speed included an amazingly fast ability to recover from rejection. "Well, there are lots of other hot girls around here. Mind you, Starfire would've been nice. They don't make 'em on Earth like they do on Tamaran."

"Well… You know, Starfire has an older sister who sometimes visits Earth. Maybe I could introduce you to her sometime."

"Is she hot?"

"Is she hot? Dude, she is something else. A real killer. She's got half the galaxy chasing her." _Cops, mostly._

"Sweet. You'd introduce me to her? Thanks, bro. I'll owe you one."

"Anytime, bro." Cyborg pictured the meeting between Kid Flash and Blackfire. He imagined it would begin with Kid Flash using a corny pick-up line, and end with Blackfire tossing Kid Flash's crushed, deep-frozen balls into a supernova. Cyborg was so amused by this fantasy that he almost let his breakfast burn. Cursing under his breath, he rescued his meal and carried his loaded plate to the breakfast table.

"Does this thing work?" Kid Flash asked, standing before the food preparation device.

"Sure does. Just ask it for whatever you want and it'll make it for you, provided we have the ingredients."

"Okay. I want a tall, slim alien girl with red hair, green eyes, golden skin and two big, bouncy -"

_Whoosh. _The doors to the living room popped open again and Starfire sailed in.

"Good the morning, friends!" she cried rapturously as she floated in mid-air surrounded by a corona of flame coloured hair, her hands clasped before her – well, there was no other word for it – bosom.

"Good morning," said Kid Flash. To Cyborg he added, "Wow, you really know how to build machines."

Cyborg looked at Starfire through Kid Flash's eyes, imagining that he was seeing her for the first time. She was so happy today, she looked even more radiant than usual (Starfire had explained that emotions had dramatic effects on Tamaranean physiology). She hovered on the spot, her round face lit by its upturned emerald cat-eyes. Her golden-orange skin had that slight metallic sheen to it that hinted at her alien ancestry. Her hair trailed behind her like a cloak of red starlight. And her body… well, she was beautiful. Cyborg had forgotten, partly because he'd spent so much time with her and partly because he didn't look at women that way any more.

What was the point? Most of the women he'd met since his accident had looked at him with that strange mixture of revulsion, kindness and pity in their eyes. _Good old Victor Stone. Such a brilliant mind. Such a nice guy. So dependable, reliable. So sweet. Too bad he's a cripple. Oh, poor thing. Poor broken thing. He's only half a man. _There would be girls out there willing to take him, but he would die before he had someone date him out of pity. In the years since his accident he'd turned so much of his life around. He'd made his metal prison into an instrument of freedom, turned it from a symbol of weakness into one of power. He'd realised that just because his father's beloved science had rebuilt him didn't mean that his father had won. Cyborg was his own man and his life was in his own hands. He'd learnt to accept that he was different now, not _less_. But he still hadn't allowed anyone to love him. Because he still couldn't love himself.

When he'd prepared for his undercover mission to infiltrate the H.I.V.E., he'd programmed his personal holographic projector to mimic his real, human body. His pre-accident body. He'd stood in front of the mirror watching the play of light on his dark brown skin, the ripple of muscle, the elegant choreography of veins. It all felt so _right, _so much better than the cold, dead ugly metal that usually waited for him in his reflection. And just as he'd come to the verge of tears, Starfire had flown in and embraced him.

_"I prefer the original Cyborg," _she'd said, referring to his cybernetic body. She had embraced him. Without flinching! With nothing in her eyes but love and friendship! She said that she liked his post-accident body better, and because it was Starfire, he knew it was an honest opinion and not a fake cheery silver lining sentiment: "Well, your life is ruined and you're not human any more, but at least you can fight crime!"

Starfire had seen beauty in him when he couldn't even see it himself. That was the kind of person she was. Only she could have done that. Raven would have told him to accept his body because he had no choice. Starfire _showed _him how to do it. She just did it – touched him lovingly, as a friend, her soft Tamaranean flesh against his dead robot arms as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She made it seem effortless. Like the sun radiating light, she gave love without any expectation of return. And like the sun, she lit up their little universe.

Kid Flash couldn't see that. Most of the guys who chased after Starfire with drool dripping from their mouths couldn't see that. They were too distracted by her hot body to realise that her real beauty was on the inside. Robin, though, he was different. He was used to looking beneath the surface. He didn't put much stock in appearances. That was what made him such a good detective. Maybe it would also make him a good lover. Cyborg was glad Robin and Starfire were finally together. They would be good for each other. Better Robin than Kid Flash, anyway. Speaking of which…

"Where is Robin, Star?" Cyborg asked.

"I believe he has gone to interrogate the prisoner," replied Starfire. "Kid Flash, once we have broken our fast, let us hurry and visit the Ms Jessica Williamson."

"Sure," said Kid Flash. "But you know, I really think we should be keeping an eye on the True Human League guys."

"Robin gave us our orders," Starfire said.

"Robin didn't see the rally we saw. What do you think, Cyborg?"

Cyborg made a noncommittal noise. "Right now I think we should be more concerned about the people we _know _want us dead. The True Human League and all that? People being ignorant bigots? That's nothing new, just human nature. We have our priorities. We investigate when they become a threat, not before. But if you saw something that concerned you, go ahead and talk to Robin about it. It can't hurt."

"Okay, I'll do that. I sure hope you're right. I don't want a mob at the door. I guess you'll be okay if they come for us. You were born fully human, right? I'm a mutant and Star's an alien."

Cyborg snorted and shook his head. "You really don't understand these people, do you? Do you think it matters to them that I was born a regular human? You think they make rational decisions? You think if a mob comes after us they're going to stop and DNA test everyone and check their ID papers before they stab us and beat us to death and burn us? Hell no. They'll go for anyone who looks different or acts different or thinks different, anyone who doesn't fit inside the narrow vision of right and wrong in their tiny minds. I look less human than you or Starfire. Big scary robot man? Doesn't help that I'm black, either. Trust me, if a mob comes I'll be the first to go. Beast Boy second, 'cos he's green. The rest of you could pass as normal humans."

"Please, let us not talk of such things," said Starfire. "No mob shall come for us. And if they do try to come for you first, friend Cyborg, they shall not have you. I will put myself between you and them."

Cyborg nodded. "I know you will, Star. I know you will."


	11. Myths

Robin paused outside the door of Holding Room 1, reviewing the information Cyborg had sent him about the prisoner. Cyborg had been able to identify the man by using a program that matched suspects' facial features against a database of photos taken from driver's licences, passports and other official documents.

The man's name was Patrick Chen. He had served twelve years in the military before leaving and becoming a gas station attendant in West Jump. Two years ago he had been convicted of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. His girlfriend had been struck by a drunk driver, and Chen had gone to the driver's house with a shotgun and shot him twice. Chen's defence had argued for diminished responsibility due to post-traumatic stress disorder and emotional instability. The psychiatrist's report stated that Chen had severe anger management issues and suffered from occasional poor impulse control. After serving six months in prison, during which Chen had become a born-again Christian, he had been released on parole and had no further encounters with the law.

Cyborg had added some notes on Chen's religious associations. After leaving prison, Chen had drifted aimlessly through mainstream churches for a few months before becoming involved in more extremist sects. Cyborg had underlined the name of an organisation called Sword of Adam, apparently a hate group which preached a strong anti-metahuman message.

What kind of man was Chen? Robin tried to get a good sense of a suspect's personality before he interviewed them. That way he could determine the best strategy to use. This man, though, was a bit of a puzzle. Had he been unhinged by the violence he'd witnessed during his military service? Was he a sane man poisoned by extremist religious propaganda? Was he an emotionally vulnerable man who'd been manipulated into doing someone else's dirty work? Was he a committed anti-metahuman terrorist?

Robin unlocked the door and entered the room. Patrick Chen was lying on his bed, but he opened his eyes and sat up as Robin walked across the floor and seated himself at the small table in the room's centre. Chen seemed remarkably calm. At the sight of Robin he looked interested but not frightened.

Robin arranged himself in the chair in such a way that his cloak fanned around him, making him look larger than he really was. His mask made his expression impossible to read. He had learnt from Batman how important appearances were. So much of the superhero business was theatre, acting, projection, making people believe in myths. It was all psychological. People could look at you and see a goofy weirdo dressed in a bat costume… or they could see a terrible shadow, an avenging spectre of night come to life. The difference was all in their mind. You had to make them believe in the legend, believe that you were something strange, terrible, immortal, unstoppable. But at the same time you could never believe in the legend yourself, because if you started believing you were indestructible you wouldn't last very long. History was littered with the graves of superheroes who had been too good at their jobs, who had been so successful at building their myths that they'd fallen for their own lies and forgotten that they were flesh and blood, that they could die like anyone else.

Justice was not exactly a lie. It was a potential truth. It was like Schrödinger's cat, both alive and dead at the same time. It needed belief to make it real. It needed faith to collapse its uncertainty field and turn it into reality. If enough people believed in a legend, they could make it real, at least in their minds. And with humans, the mind was the most important thing. Once you had that, everything else would follow.

The truth was, the Titans were just five kids. There was no way they could control a city of millions. Well, that was _a _truth, not _the _truth. The Titans were a symbol, something for people to believe in. Something for people to fear. If enough people believed the Titans were justice embodied, if every time a crime was committed, someone looked up and thought, _what if one of them is watching, _if you got enough people believing in the _potential_ of a just city, then the city would begin to police itself. Five kids could not control a city of millions. But a city of millions could control itself. They just needed a bit of encouragement. They needed a legend. They needed the Titans.

Chen had broken part of that legend. He had injured Raven seriously. Suddenly, the indestructible Titans were revealed to be mere flesh and blood. If the Titans could fall, anyone could. Who would protect order and justice then?

That was why Robin had forbidden his teammates from saying anything about Raven's condition to the media. He understood how important it was to have an informed public in a functioning democracy. The problem was that "the public" was an ideal concept that existed only in people's minds. It assumed that if you got a bunch of people together, educated them, gave them information and power and asked them to make decisions, they would consider all the facts carefully, make rational decisions and act in such a way as to protect everyone's rights and preserve law and order.

What really happened when you got a large number of people together was that they became not _the public _but _the mob_. A pack of dumb animals governed by blind instinct. If their neighbours panicked, they would panic. If their neighbours hated, they would hate. Fear and chaos would spread through the whole population like a virus. They would become a bunch of panicking, frightened apes driven by emotion. Apes armed with guns and nuclear missiles. Education made little difference. A lot of the time it just meant people could construct more sophisticated justifications for their stupidity.

Jump City was a kind of Schrödinger's society, governed by order and chaos and the same time. The potential for each state was nestled in the other. Between the two conditions locked in their unstable equilibrium, driven this way and that by myriad forces, there stood a thin line, a line guarded by the Titans. It was up to them to ensure that the balance fell on the side of order.

At the moment, they weren't doing such a great job.

"Patrick Chen," Robin growled in a low voice. "Let's have a little chat."

"Pat," replied Chen. "It's Pat." He was a tall man, broad and well-built with pale skin. He wore a dark cap and black long sleeved t-shirt. His dark brown hair was cropped very short. His face was long, clean-shaven with a strong chin of the kind often found in male models. Dark eyes glowered under thick, straight eyebrows. He was probably in his late thirties. He must have enlisted when he was very young.

"Why did you do it?"

Chen's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Is that… do you have to ask?"

"I don't ask questions for fun."

Chen looked thoughtful. "Where should I start? I mean, I love my country. I wanted to protect it from people who want to destroy it."

"If you love your country, why break its laws? It's a crime to kill."

"Laws are made by the government. Our government is failing us. It's in the pocket of metahumans who want to destroy this country. We need to return to our Christian principles."

"I'm not an expert on religion, but I don't remember Christ shooting anyone in the head."

"The girl was Satan's daughter!" Chen was earnest. "You know it! You _know _it. You've been covering up the truth. She's a monster, an abomination. She was the worst of all of you. I was doing this world a favour. She was the Antichrist."

Robin looked into the man's eyes and was genuinely frightened by what he saw there. He could handle incoherent rage. He could deal with sadistic pleasure. He had seen madness and hatred in criminals' eyes a hundred times. What he rarely saw was this… this eager, open, almost serene earnestness. The man looked so at peace, like he'd done nothing more than his civic duty as a good citizen. Robin felt sick.

"You know nothing about Raven. No one can help what they are born. We can only choose how to live. Raven has dedicated her life to helping others. You have chosen to murder. You have no right to judge her. You aren't fit to lick her boots."

Chen frowned. "Don't tell me about helping others. I spent twelve years of my life serving my country."

"I honour you for your service. It's a shame you had to tarnish it by using your skills to hurt the innocent."

"She's not innocent! None of you are! The people will rise up and take back our city. The age of the Titans is over!" A dreamy smile bloomed on his face.

_The age of the Titans is over. _The phrase stirred something in Robin's memory. Hadn't Councilwoman Farrell used that exact phrase when she'd spoken to him? Was there a connection?

"Government can only govern by the consent of the people," Chen went on. "When did you Titans ask for my consent? I never voted for you."

"I don't need a Politics 101 lecture. If you were unhappy with the way things were running, you should have petitioned your government for change. Killing is not the answer."

"Our government system is broken. They wouldn't have done anything. They no longer represent the will of the people, only their own corporate interests. It was time for us to take direct action. Anyway, isn't that the kind of vigilantism that you Titans use yourself?"

"We don't kill. We don't target the innocent. We don't break laws. We have rules."

"Well, they're not working. That's what happens when the rules are made by the corrupt and power-hungry. They fail their purpose."

"Tell me who you were working with. Was it the Sword of Adam? The True Human League?"

"I'll tell you nothing. You must not persecute my friends. They have very important business to do. I have had the honour of killing the worst Titan, the Antichrist. There are just four of you left."

"So you have knowledge of future murder attempts as well."

"I'm saying nothing."

"If you co-operate, your sentence might be reduced."

For the first time, Chen looked upset. "You think I'm a dog, to betray them for that? Put me in jail as long as you like. It's better to go through decades of suffering in this life than to be in damnation forever."

Robin was beginning to think this was pointless. "If your God hates meta-humans so much, why did he make so many of us?"

Chen frowned slightly. "I don't know the will of the Almighty. All I know is it's wrong what you're doing."

"What we're doing? Protecting the innocent? Taking down criminals? Defending law and order?"

Chen shook his head, smiling. "Lies, lies, all lies. I don't buy into the lies of the mainstream media. I know what you really do."

"You know, Pat, when I came into this room I wondered what to make of you. Now I think you're just an ignorant, violent man who was looking for an excuse to hurt others."

"I'm a soldier. I'm just defending my country and doing God's work."

"You're delusional. You're a sad little man who thinks he serves a higher power and uses violence to achieve his ends."

Chen laughed. "That makes two of us, Robin."


	12. Prison Break

Robin entered the control room and found Cyborg already there, busy at a console.

"Hey, Robin," Cyborg said. "Good to see you. Get any info from the prisoner?"

"Nothing." Robin took a seat and brought their schedule up on a screen. "It was useless. He did mention that there was some kind of plan to kill all of us. Apparently he's done his part. The rest of us are in danger now. But we already knew that."

"So what're we gonna do with him?"

"We'll have him transferred to Pinewood today to await trial. One of us is going to be on the transport when he goes. His friends might decide to turn up and rescue him."

"Sounds like a plan. I've got some news on his bipod. Turns out it was stored on a dock at some point."

"This is a great lead. I'm trying to work out how to organise the team. I think I'll split us into two. Starfire, Kid Flash and I on shift one, you and Beast Boy on shift two. We'll do twelve hour shifts."

"Twelve hour shifts? Indefinitely? That's going to be rough."

"We need to recruit more members. Not plants chosen by Farrell. Trustworthy members. That'll have to wait until Farrell's taken care of. Where's Beast Boy?"

"Haven't seen him since he took off last night."

"If he doesn't touch base within an hour, get onto him. We need everyone to pull their weight. Star and Kid Flash?"

"They've gone to speak to that woman whose account was used to send the email."

"Good."

_ "Incoming transmission. Emergency secure channel. Caller identity: Wilfred Black, Chief Warden of Pinewood Maximum Security Special Correctional Facility."_

Robin and Cyborg exchanged a look.

"Accept," said Robin.

A cacophony of distant shouts, rumblings and gunfire filled the room. The man on screen was wild eyed and desperate, a revolver in his right hand. His dark hair was messed up. "Robin? Robin? Oh, thank God it's you."

"What's going on, Mr Black?" Robin demanded.

"There's been an attack! Bombs – a mass breakout! My guards have been killed. There are people here, strangers, I don't know where they came from. They have guns. They let all the prisoners out. They started a riot. They're killing my men."

Robin rose to his feet. "I'm on my way."

"Be quick! The police are coming but there are metahuman prisoners here. We can't handle all of them. We need the Titans."

Robin nodded. "Are you safe?"

"No one's safe! They broke – urgh!" A red ribbon wrapped around the Chief Warden's throat, choking him. His body jerked, his revolver dropping to the ground as his fingers grasped at his neck. A man with turquoise skin and white hair appeared at his side, dressed in coattails and a top hat.

"Robot aaand gentleman!" the turquoise man announced. "Introducing… the _Amazing _Mumbo! Fresh out of the big house thanks to the help of a Good Samaritan, and accompanied by his lovely assistant, he now presents for you his newest trick – sawing a Chief Warden in half!" An enormous blade with serrated edges appeared out of thin air. Mumbo held one end in his right hand. The other end was taken by a woman in pale makeup with feathers in her hair, a sparkly costume, tights and high heels.

"Mumbo!" Robin growled. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare lay a finger on him. If you do, I will hunt you down and –"

"And what, my dear boy? Put me in prison again? But from what I've seen so far, this city is no longer under your control, is it? Ooh, I've waited for this day for so long. You've been such a _brat, _kicking us little criminals around. It was only a matter of time before you got the attention of the big fish. To think I would live to see the day you prepubescent pricks were taken down! Too bad Mr Black won't see it. Are we ready, Miss Terry? I'll ungag him so we can hear his screams. Then we stuff him in the box, like so." The Chief Warden was lowered, struggling and screaming, into a coffin. The lid was slammed shut and locked. Pounding sounds came from within.

"Mumbo! No!"

Mumbo and his assistant thrust the blade into the wood, slicing the coffin in two, and the pounding abruptly stopped.

Robin slammed his fist into the console. "You… you'll pay for that."

"Now don't fret, my lovely audience, I've done this plenty of times before. I know how to put him back together, good as new. Thing is, I won't. I'll leave him here to die of massive trauma and blood loss instead. That's all for today, folks! You will hurry down here, won't you, Robin? Miss Terry and I really must be off – we don't fancy meeting the police. But there are lots of people here who are eager to meet you. Said something about you putting them behind bars. Some of them looked quite scary. I'm sure you're just dying to meet them as well. Toodle-oo!"

There was a puff of blue-green smoke, and when it cleared Mumbo and his assistant had vanished.

Robin whirled and sprinted out the door.

"Wait!" called Cyborg. "I'm coming with you!"

"No, Cy," Robin replied on his communicator. "You have important work to do here at the Tower. Get Beast Boy and Starfire to rendezvous with me at Pinewood. Kid Flash can interview Ms Williamson on his own."

"Robin, you will wait for backup before going in, right?"

"Don't worry about me. You know I work well on my own."

"But almost every supervillain we defeated is in Pinewood. If they're all loose… Robin? Robin! Don't do anything stupid!" _Click. _"Dammit! He's always gotta play the hero! Computer, get me Starfire and Beast Boy right now! Emergency protocol! Star, Beast Boy, get your asses over to Pinewood before our leader does something suicidal. We're already one Titan down, we don't want to lose another!"

…

Outside the grey walls of Pinewood, squad cars screeched into position. Police officers piled out and took cover, aiming their weapons.

"This is Police Chief Marcus!" a man shouted into a loudspeaker. "Return to your cells immediately! Anyone attempting to leave will be met with force!"

"Graaar!" The doors of the prison flew open to reveal a massive figure carved from grey stone. Its red eyes flamed as it pounded down the steps towards Marcus.

"Fire!" Marcus shouted.

Bullets ricocheted off Cinderblock, leaving shallow pits in his granite skin. Shrugging the assault off as though it were a swarm of mosquitoes, he thudded towards Chief Marcus, who refused to retreat, standing stock still as he emptied his gun into the giant's chest.

"Return to your cell!" Marcus shouted a final time, as Cinderblock towered over him. A rock hand closed around the chief and lifted him high into the air, ready to smash him to the ground.

_Zzing! _Something silver flashed down from the sky and struck Cinderblock's chest, releasing a thick haze of greenish smoke. Cinderblock choked and coughed, stumbling backwards. Chief Marcus fell to the ground with a thud, looking dazed. A second later Robin swooped down, grabbed Marcus by the collar with his left hand and swung away on his grapnel.

Robin deposited the chief behind the line of squad cars, among a group of police officers.

"I'm going in," Robin said. "Starfire will arrive as soon as she can to assist you."

"Wait, you can't go in," Marcus spluttered. "We need your help. We can't stop them from escaping."

"Do your best. Whoever planned this might still be inside. By the way, you're welcome."

Robin dodged around a squad car and ran back towards Cinderblock, who was advancing on a trio of police officers. Unclipping four freeze bombs from his belt, Robin slung them hard and low. They hit the ground and burst, flowering into a carpet of ice right in Cinderblock's path. Cinderblock's feet slipped and slid out from under him, sending him crashing onto his back. Robin blew past him and raced towards the prison. When he neared the walls he unhooked his grapnel from his belt, fired it at the edge of the roof and pulled himself up.

He paused, crouched on the roof's edge, and tapped a hand to the side of his mask, engaging his spectral filters. There were no heat signatures. That meant the roof was probably deserted, though he would have to be wary of heat masking. There were eight small metallic objects spaced around the rooftop.

"Cyborg. Check out my visuals. See if you can ID the mines."

_"Workin' on it. Zoom in as much as you can."_ Ten seconds passed. _"Usmanov Class 3 motion sensor mines. The blast radius is three metres."_

"Got it." Robin paused to consider his options. If he detonated one mine, the blast would start a chain reaction that would set off all the others. There would be no safe place on the rooftop.

He threw a birdarang at the mine furthest from him. As soon as the birdarang left his hand, he leapt off the roof and allowed himself to fall about three metres before shooting his grapnel at the side of the building, bringing himself to a halt. As he hung there, he heard the incredibly loud explosions rocking the roof above and felt fine particles of debris raining down. When it was over, he swung himself back up, returned to his place on the roof's edge and scanned the rooftop once again. There were no suspicious objects among the rubble and smoking craters.

_"Robin," _said Cyborg, _"someone planted those mines on the roof. They were expecting someone to enter the building via the rooftop."_

"My thoughts exactly." Robin approached the door, his footsteps silent on the burning powder.

_"Whoever was expecting you could still be in there. They could have left more surprises for you."_

"Hopefully. I was getting a little bored with all this council stuff."

_"Robin, Kid Flash will be there in two minutes. Starfire in six, Beast Boy in fifteen. Please wait for backup."_

"Cy, there are people in there who need my help now. Tell Star and Kid Flash to patrol the perimeter and help the police stop anyone from escaping. Tell Beast Boy to come after me when he gets here. And send me the maps for Pinewood. I'm going in blind." The X-ray filter revealed no one on the other side of the door. His sonic monitor picked up no heartbeats. "Can you get these doors open?"

_"Looking at the specs now. Hmm. Probably not. They're computer controlled but they have manual locks as well. You'll probably have to blow the lock mechanism. I've sent you the maps. See if you can get to a computer terminal. If I'm linked to the local network I can work some magic."_

Robin pressed a series of button on his left glove. A holographic display map of the prison appeared. "Isn't the door reinforced?"

_"The upper levels are used by the guards and low risk prisoners. Security isn't that high. The below ground levels are where it gets serious. We're taking walls of steel metres thick, tasers and gun turrets. If I have access to the network I might be able to help you out. See if you can pick up a security pass if you meet a guard. That should open a few doors for you."_

"There's a computer centre on the ground floor. I'm going in."

_"Robin? Be careful."_

"Have I ever let you down before?"

_"It only takes once."_

_Boom!_

Robin detonated the lock and forced the door open. Inside was a gloomy flight of stairs leading down to a landing, which adjoined a steel door, two elevators and another flight of stairs leading down into the gloom.

"There are cameras here," whispered Robin. "Taking them out. Now wearing earplugs."

_B-boom!_

_"Robin!" _came Starfire's voice. _"Wait for us. I must go with you into the Pinewood."_

_"Dude," _added Kid Flash, _"Star and I are gonna get there way before Beast Boy. It makes more sense for us to go in with you."_

"No. Our first priority is making sure no more prisoners escape. You and Star will do that best from the outside. That's an order." He darted over to the wall beside the steel door and pressed his glove against it. "Picking up faint sounds and heat traces. There are people in there." According to the map, this floor housed two corridors containing guard's quarters.

He turned the handle and threw the door open while flinging himself back against the wall. Nothing.

_A remote birdcam will do the trick._

He sent the little birdarang flying through the door, the image from its onboard camera displayed on his holoscreen. Immediately beyond the door was a hall that branched into two passages. Nudging the birdarang left, he sent it scooting down a long corridor bordered by the guards' rooms. The rooms were empty. Someone had rampaged through them, smashing and throwing around the contents. Once he was satisfied the left branch was deserted, Robin turned the birdarang around and flew it to the right branch, which became another corridor. This time as the device flitted past the rooms, he saw flashes of faces inside and heard gasps of fear.

"What is it?" someone shrieked. "One of Joker's?"

"It looked like one of Robin's flying things!" said a man with a deep voice. "Maybe he's here?"

Robin paused the video and rewound it so he could get a better look at the faces. "I've found a bunch of guards and staff holed up here on the fifth floor," he said. "I'm gonna speak to them."

Finally slipping through the door, he made a right turn and proceeded slowly down the corridor, keeping his footsteps loud, slow and steady so as not to alarm those who were hiding. As he walked, he cut down the cameras that were spaced along the walls. When he got a third of the way down the corridor, he said, "This is Robin. I'm not going to hurt you. I need to know what's going on."

Slowly, people began to emerge from the guards' rooms. First came a few guards with weapons trained on Robin, then some other staff. They were all stressed and panicked. Their heart rates were above normal.

"Robin!"

"Are you gonna help us?"

"Please! Get us out of here!"

"I'll get you out in a minute. Can you tell me what happened here?" he asked the closest guard, a medium-sized man with bronze skin and unnaturally red hair.

"Yes, Robin, sir. We was on guard duty like usual. I was on the second floor with Karl, when all of a sudden we heard a loud bang from down below. There was rumbling, too, like an explosion. Next thing the prison's going into lockdown mode. There was all screams and gunshots on the radio and we couldn't reach Warden Black. We went down to the ground floor to see what happened and there was dead people and criminals everywhere. They'd got control of the exit. We found Warden Black and some other workers and we all hightailed it up here. We heard a bunch of criminals shouting and shooting their guns. They went up to the roof and down again. And we heard…" he shivered slightly. "This really loud, crazy laughing. I ain't never heard nothing like that before. It was scary. Then the Warden went to contact you. That was over twenty minutes ago. He never came back. Then lockdown was lifted, which means someone must have… got hold of the Warden."

Robin nodded.

_"This is KF to Mr Robin, sir. I have arrived at the scene and am keeping Cinderblock busy until reinforcements arrive."_

"Good. Star, I'm sending a group of people up to the roof. Evacuate them as soon as you get here. Then assist Kid Flash, but keep an eye on the rooftop. I'll let you know if I'm sending more people up there."

_"Yes, Robin. Robin, I am almost there. I -"_

"Enough, SF. You have your orders. I'm on a mission, I don't need distractions. Don't contact me unless it's mission related."

_"Affirmative. _M'tagfar_."_

"For future reference, I know what that means."

Starfire gasped.

_"Guess Tamaranean kissing works both ways," _said Kid Flash.

"KF, that was not mission related."

_"Won't happen again, boss. Hey, why are people always 'distracted'? Why isn't anyone just 'tracted'?"_

"KF!"

_"Shutting up now. I mean it this time. Okay, one more thing. Does SF stand for Starfire or Sexy Female? Because either way works for me."_

_"I am not ovulating," _Starfire said.

"This conversation did not happen." Robin turned back to the guard. "You have weapons? I need you to escort everyone to the roof. One of my teammates will pick you up from there. Do you have an ID card or something that will give me access to your network?"

"Yes, sir." The guard handed it over. "The nearest computers are one floor down. That was where the Warden was headed."

"That wasn't on the map. Do these computers have full access to the network?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why did the Warden leave here to contact me?"

"He said we needed the Titans. He said we couldn't rely on Marcus. He said the cops wouldn't tell you about the break-out until it was too late."

_Great. Why is it all the people in this city who trust me end up dead?_

"Get everyone going. You need to reach the roof now."

Robin led the guards and administrative staff back to the stairs. He waited until the last of them had disappeared through the rooftop door before continuing downwards.

"I'm heading for the computer room on the fourth floor."

_"Roger," _said Cyborg. _"Cinderblock has been restrained. Kid Flash is now fighting Plasmus. Starfire has begun flying trapped personnel from the roof. Beast Boy's ETA: eight minutes."_

"Something's been bothering me. We saw Mumbo doing a spell -"

_"But his magic cane is still in our evidence room. Yeah, I had the same thought, and I checked, and the cane is still there. Maybe he had a spare one."_

"But how did he get it from inside Pinewood?"

_"Maybe he was friends with whoever staged the prison break? Be sure to ask him once you get hold of his slippery green neck."_

_"Excuse me," said Beast Boy, "he's turquoise, not green."_

_"Whatever."_

…

They huddled on the rooftop. A couple of them waved their arms, yelling and shouting at the police, but the officers down below were clearly preoccupied by the giant reddish thing hurling slime at them. Then there was a rush of wind and a girl swooped down from the sky to gasps and cries of alarm. She floated in mid-air, her mane of red hair streaming in the wind.

"Do not be frightened, friends," Starfire said. "I shall fly you to safety two at a time."

"She's a Titan!" said Tony. "Starfire, remember?"

"She's an alien! Don't let her touch you! What if she does something?"

The alien girl looked down. Tony saw sadness in her eyes, an expression that looked all too human to him.

"You wanna stay up here with the freaks who escaped from prison? Fine. I'm taking my chances with Starfire." Tony walked closer and smiled up at her. "Miss, would you please take Karl and me? It would be an honour."

Starfire smiled back and nodded. Landing lightly on her feet, she put her arms around them.

"Hold tightly," she said.

…

"Bleaaargh!" gurgled Plasmus.

"Really?" said Kid Flash. "You say 'Bleargh,' Cinderblock says 'Graar.' You villains of the week don't have much to say, do you? At least Clayface could have a conversation."

Plasmus coughed up a sphere of lime-green acid and launched it at Kid Flash, but he easily avoided it. The ground smoked and bubbled where the acid struck.

"You're gonna have to move faster than that to hit me. Yo, Cy. Could you get me some intel on what I'm facing? Never seen the guy before. Let me guess: Mucus Man, right?"

_"Plasmus. A villain whose body is composed of toxic waste. He can manipulate his form into almost any shape."_

"Sweet. What's his weakness?"

Plasmus drew back his right hand and thrust it at Kid Flash. The arm extended like a maroon snake, speeding towards Kid Flash, who darted to the right and kept running as the arm rocketed after him.

"Not lack of reach, I'm guessing," muttered Kid Flash.

_"He reverts to his human form when he's asleep."_

"I have no sleeping gas on me and I'm not going to sing him Rock A Bye Baby. And if he's made of toxic waste I'm not in a rush to engage in hand to hand combat. Any suggestions?"

_"Wait for Starfire to finish rescuing those people, then let her engage Plasmus with her starbolts."_

"What? Let my sweet alien princess do all the work while I sit there like a bag of groceries? I don't think so. Bad for my image."

_"Well come up with your own plan, then. I don't think your powers are optimised for taking down something like Plasmus."_

"Ohhh, you did not just insult the super speed, Tin Man. Watch and learn." Kid Flash became a red and yellow blur which shot away and disappeared.

_"What are you doing? You're supposed to stop Plasmus from escaping."_

"Relax. I'll be back in thirty seconds."

_"You may not have that long."_

Having lost sight of Kid Flash, Plasmus turned his attention to the police. The special response team fired streams of liquid nitrogen at him, freezing him in place. The front of his body shattered, tumbling to the ground in chunks of ice. Plasmus cried out in pain, making a sound like an elephant roaring through a wet rattle. His body regenerated itself, but the officers kept their nitrogen hoses trained on him, forcing him back.

Kid Flash returned with a white box. "Got the strongest sedatives I could find in Jump Children's Hospital. So how do I get them in him? Does he have veins or what?"

_"I haven't had the chance to study him, but I think that when he's Plasmus his whole body forms a simple slime-based organ. Getting the sedative into any part of the slime should cause it to diffuse through his whole body."_

"Excellent. That makes it easy."

_"Couple of things, though. First, he might be smart enough to work out you're trying to sedate him. If he does, he'll just eject the parts of his slime-body that you inject before the sedative spreads to his nervous system. Secondly, giving him too little sedative will have no effect, but too much could kill him, and I have no idea what the therapeutic dose for a slime monster is."_

"Oh, great. I knew this was too easy. How did you guys manage to take him down before?"

_"We just kept hitting him until he stopped moving. That tends to work for us most of the time."_

"I'm starting to see why the whole city is scared of you guys."

_"Well, it's either us or Plasmus. At least you can reason with us. Except Beast Boy."_

_"You left the link open," _said Beast Boy. _"I can hear you, you know."_

_"Whoops. Robin, something weird's going on in there. Pinewood just started sucking a huge amount of electricity out of the power grid. Be on your guard. Robin? Robin?"_

Starfire said, _"When I finish rescuing these people I must follow Robin. Cyborg, please tell Beast Boy to assist Kid Flash."_

_"Robin gave us our orders."_

_"I do not care. He may discipline me later. I must go after him. I fear the worst."_


	13. Robin Overloaded

Two men in orange uniforms sat across from each other on the floor, absorbed in a game of cards. The first had a gun beside him.

"What was the point of breaking us out and then leaving us here?" he grumbled. "The cops have got the place surrounded. Once they get in here we're going straight back in our cells."

"We should have made a run for it soon as we got out."

"Wouldn't have got very far. The only ones who escaped are the ones with powers. You know, people who could fly or whatever. Freaks. I guess we don't matter. We're not important."

"Why _did _they break us out?"

"Who knows. Half the crooks in this town are batshit crazy anyways. Who knows why they do anything."

"They must've had a plan, though. Not just anyone can break into Pinewood and walk out. I mean, it took serious planning."

"They were psycho."

"Could a psycho have done something like this?"

"A lot of – urgh!" With a hissing noise, a cloud of grey smoke smothered the corridor. There were cries of surprise and the sounds of something hard smacking into flesh. When the smoke cleared, the two men were tied back to back, grimacing with pain. Robin grabbed the nearest one by the front of his uniform.

"Talk. Who let you out of your cells?" he said.

"Uh – please! I don't know anything! Let me go!"

"I _said, _who let you out of your cells?" Robin's fingers slid to the man's throat and tightened there. The man rasped, trying to breathe, but Robin held on. Ten seconds passed. Fifteen.

"Hey! L-let him go, you're gonna kill him! I-I'll tell you want you want!"

Robin released his grip and turned his attention to the second man. "Talk. Now."

"A bunch of guys with guns let us out," the man babbled. "They weren't from the prison, we don't know how they got in here. I-I recognised a couple of 'em. They used to work for Johnny Santonix."

"Who sent them here? Who were they working for?"

"I don't know, I swear!" The man frowned. "Wait, I remember… they said something about 'the Queen'. Yeah, that's it, they said the Queen gave 'em orders!"

"And where did they go?"

"I don't know. I don't know. They went up to the roof and came down again, releasing all the prisoners. Then, the next minute they were just gone. They couldn't have left by the front door. They just weren't there any more."

"Thanks for the help. You two sit quiet until the police arrive. Don't even think of trying to escape. If I see you out of these ropes I will take you down more permanently and it will be painful. Understand?"

"Y-yes sir. We won't move, I swear."

"Good. The last guy who tried to escape me still can't eat solid foods."

Robin slid down the corridor, silent as a shadow. "Cy, can you hear me? I'm almost at the computers on the fourth floor."

_"Robin, why weren't you answering earlier? Had me worried."_

"I was busy. But I got your message. The power surge is troubling but I don't see any signs of suspicious activity down here. Not yet."

_"Okay. Well if you get me to that computer room I might be able to find out what's going on."_

"Almost there."

_"Huh. Robin, things are worse than I thought. It seems that Pinewood is now drawing a voltage above the grid's maximum allowable limit."_

"What's that mean?"

_"The power grid is designed so a sector will automatically shut down if it draws too much electricity. For some reason that's not happening. Pinewood's power intake just keeps increasing. At this rate, we could be looking at a city-wide blackout, or worse."_

The computer room was deserted. Six monitors were arranged on tables, their screens glowing. A black coffin stood in the room's centre, the blade still buried inside it, its edges red with blood.

Robin took a small black object the size and shape of a matchbox from his belt and plugged it into the nearest machine. "Cyborg, I've got you your link. Do your stuff. I'm moving on."

_"Affirmative. Wait, Robin. Scan your guard's access card into your computer. That'll give me a head start in breaking the encryption."_

Robin did as Cyborg instructed before turning to the coffin. "I'll find Mumbo and make sure he gets what he deserves," he murmured. "I promise."

_"Who're you talking to?"_

"Warden Black. What's left of him."

_"Oh."_

"Did you hear what those two men said?"

_"The ones you terrorised? Yeah."_

"They mentioned a queen. Does that mean anything to you?"

_"Nope. I ran a quick search on known criminals in Jump City. No match. We know Johnny Santonix, though."_

Santonix was one of the leading figures of Jump's criminal underbelly.

"Maybe the Queen is royalty from some foreign country. Queen Bee of Bialya?"

_"Could be. I don't think she has interests in Jump, though. Okay, I'm in. Encryption was tight, but I now have full access. Trying to locate the source of the power surge. It's coming from the Warden's office on the first floor."_

"On my way." Robin left the room, cast a final look back at the coffin and closed the door silently behind him. "Can you get visuals of the office?"

_"Grabbing the CCTV feeds now. What the – "_

"What is it?"

_"Something's hacking our systems!"_

"What?"

_"It's coming from the link – "_

Robin's earpiece screeched an unbearably high note. He tore it from his ear and tucked it into his belt. A deep, crackly voice growled from everywhere at once, sending shivers prickling down his back:

"Overload sees you, little ant. This prison belongs to Overload now. You will be eliminated."

Overload! That explained the power surge. But If Overload was in the Warden's office on the first floor, how could it see Robin?

The answer lay on the floor. Cameras lay morosely where Robin had sliced them from the walls. Overload must have integrated itself with Pinewood's computer network. That would've allowed it to track Robin's movements by following the trail of destroyed cameras.

When Robin had linked the Tower to Pinewood's local network, he'd given Overload a route into the Tower.

"So you can see me," Robin said loudly, flicking through Pinewood's maps on his holoscreen. "Why don't you come out and face me? Or are you afraid?"

"Overload is not afraid of the little ant. Overload will send power flowing through the little ant's body until it is burnt to a cinder. No one can stop Overload now."

_Bzzzzzzttt. _The corridor filled with crackling blue-white lightning. Sparks coalesced, twisting and surging until they formed two humanoid figures, one on either side of Robin. The room grew noticeably warmer and a burning smell cut through the air.

Two Overloads? How was that possible? Robin mentally filed that question away for later. At the moment his priority was staying alive and investigating Pinewood. Getting away from two Overloads was not going to be easy.

…

Cyborg's fingers danced over the keypad. Lines of text flickered on the screens before him.

_"Warning. Unauthorised access detected."_

"Shut down all incoming external links. Reboot in Safe Mode."

_"Closing incoming external links. Links closed."_

Cyborg breathed out. It surprised him how quickly the incoming link had bypassed his security measures. Whoever was responsible for the hack had some serious tech know-how. Gizmo? Control Freak? But they wouldn't have access to the equipment needed to launch an assault like this inside the prison. Or would they? If someone had succeeded in breaking the prisoners out, maybe security at Pinewood wasn't as tight as it should be. Who knew what kind of tech had been snuck in there.

The computer beeped. _"Link established."_

"Huh? No, shut down!"

_"I'm sorry. You are not an authorised user."_

"The hell I'm not! I built you, you ungrateful piece of crap!" Cyborg's fingers hammered on the keypad again.

login user_cyborg

_Enter password_

_Invalid password_

manual_override 0632398elinorestone

_Input commands_

restore sysconfig 2062_06_

_Reconfiguring system…_

This was going to take a while. Until Cyborg hunted down the malware, the Tower's mainframe was going to be operating with reduced functionality. Fortunately he had backups of the Tower's essential systems in his own bodily software. He pressed a button on his left forearm.

"Robin. Robin, can you hear me?"

No reply. He tapped a couple more buttons and a feed from Robin's suit appeared in his visual field. Robin's stats were elevated: heart rate, breathing, muscle contractions, adrenaline levels and sympathetic arousal. He was obviously in combat. His earpiece was not in his ear, but his suit had a speaker in the chest which Cyborg now activated.

"Robin, can you hear me?"

_"Busy." _Robin was breathing hard. _"Fighting two Overloads."_

"_Two _Overloads?" Now it all made sense! That was how the Tower's computers had been infected so quickly. Gizmo and Control Freak were good programmers, but they were human and limited by their ability to code. Overload was something else, something with the power to fuse with electronic devices, including computer circuits, and reprogram them on a far more intimate level. As to how Overload achieved that feat, Cyborg had no idea. He had petitioned the Justice Department to release Overload to the local STAR labs for study, but they had refused, saying it was too dangerous.

It was kind of a relief to know that Overload was responsible for the hack. It would have been downright embarrassing for Cyborg's system to fall so quickly to a human programmer. It also made things more personal. He hadn't forgiven Overload for stealing the first incarnation of the T-car.

Overload had struck as soon as the link between the Tower and Pinewood was established, which meant that he (she? It?) must have taken control of Pinewood's network beforehand. That meant Overload was in charge of all the prison's electronics, which did not bode well for Robin.

Overload's weakness was water. That meant – well, Robin would have thought of it already.

"Robin. Are you following the pipes?"

_"Yeah. I just have to get Overload in the right place and douse him – I mean, them – with a bit of the old H2O."_

Cyborg scanned the map of the fourth floor. "There are sprinklers on the ceiling. They're programmed to respond to heat, water vapour and carbon dioxide."

_"Why didn't I think of that? Need to stay tracted."_

"What?"

_"Never mind. Thanks for the tip. Setting them off now."_

On the feed from Robin's suit, Cyborg noted a couple of explosives and a smoke bomb being removed from Robin's utility belt. A few seconds later, Robin said:

_"The sprinklers didn't go off, Cy."_

"Okay. I thought so. Overload must have shut down the fire safety measures to stop you using them. That just leaves the pipes." Cyborg stroked the map, manipulating the holographic image with his fingers. "There's a main junction of pipes about twelve metres from the lift. The water pressure should be high enough to give you a strong spray. They're set half a metre into the walls. A good detonation should expose and break them."

_"On it."_

"There might be a problem, Robin. The piping system is computer-controlled. Overload could have shut the pipes down and drained them. You know how he hates water."

_"_M'tagfar!_ So. I'm basically screwed."_

"Not necessarily. There are four big-ass rainwater tanks on the first floor that can only be emptied manually. If the pipes are empty, lure Overload down to one of those tanks and drop it on him."

_"Copy that. You're a lifesaver."_

"I do my best. Oh, one more thing."

_"Great. You're gonna tell me that Overload's discovered the secret to immortality."_

"It's interesting you should say that, because silicon-based artificial intelligence -"

_"Cy! In a battle."_

"Okay, I'm worried that Overload is drawing so much power from the grid. He's probably using it to increase his energy. And that's a hell of a lot of energy. You said there were _two _Overloads? It may take more than a bit of water to stop him this time. Even if you hurt him, he might just recharge himself."

_"Suggestions?"_

"I'll try to cut off power to Pinewood. I may need to requisition one of the team."

_"Go ahead. Just make sure – aarrgh!"_

"Robin!"

Robin's heart rate and muscle activity began spiking wildly. Cyborg didn't need the suit monitor's analysis to tell him the Boy Wonder was suffering from electric shock.

"Starfire!" Cyborg yelled. "Robin's on the fourth floor! Get to him _right now!_ He's in trouble!"

…

Dazed, Robin stumbled backwards as Overload's laughter pounded through his head. His suit offered him a little protection from the electricity, but he could feel serious burns on the surface of his skin where Overload had grabbed him. The burnt skin tore and stabbed with pain every time Robin moved, blood seeping from the wounds. Detecting his injuries, the interior lining of his suit released a gel to soothe the burns and promote healing.

"You cannot withstand the power of Overload. That was just a little taste. When Overload touches you again, you shall burst into flames and die. Overload has the power now." Overload's voice scratched like a bunch of flies buzzing through a static-filled radio link.

Robin backed away as the two Overloads approached, blue-white lightning dancing within their bodies. He let a couple of explosive discs fly, halting them in their tracks. He needed to get to the pipe junction Cyborg mentioned, but his head still throbbed and even if he could run it would be a bad idea to turn his back on the electrical beings. He needed to keep Overload busy while he moved into position. Would a smoke bomb work? Overload didn't appear to have eyes, so how did it see?

"Cy, will a smoke bomb work?"

_"Robin, hold on. Star's on her way. Don't do anything risky. I think Overload sees by sensing electromagnetic signatures. Just a guess. Probably using infrared to track you. If that's the case, a burst of intense EM radiation near its sensors could temporarily blind it. I'd guess its sensors are located in that chip."_

So Starfire had ignored his instructions. He'd have to talk to her later, although he couldn't really fault her because her assistance would be very helpful at the moment.

Cyborg's guesses were usually on the money. Robin unclipped a couple of mid-grade bombs from his belt, hoping the heat they generated would be enough to overwhelm Overload's sensors. If Cyborg was right and Overload was targeting Robin using IR, then a burst of intense heat near Overload's sensors should have an effect analogous to a flash of blinding light on the human optic system.

He aimed at the first Overload and slung the grenade hard. It flew swift and true, impacting an inch or two from the chip and detonating in a blast of flame. The Overload screeched, its electric body reforming around the chip in a blue-white shell as though to protect it from further impact. It looked pretty blinded to Robin.

_"Did it work?"_

"Looks like it, Cy."

_"Cool, then I have another idea. If you hit the sensor chip with alternate hot and cold bombs, you could make it blind for a lot longer. See, when the sensor is overloaded by heat, Overload should -"_

The second Overload lashed out with an electric arm. Robin flung himself to the side, the arm missing him by millimetres. As he tumbled, Robin took aim at the second Overload's chip and drew his arm back. Before he could throw the bomb, however, the electric arm caught him.

"Arrrggh!"

For the second time pain ripped through his whole body. He fell to the ground, muscles spasming, limbs thrashing wildly as liquid fire seared his flesh and bones. Then, abruptly, the pain stopped, leaving him lying in a heap, sweating and gasping for air.

It took him a few seconds to regain his composure and get back on his feet. Starfire was weaving above the Overloads' heads, sending green starbolts raining down upon them. As Robin watched, she brought her hands together and fired a beam of emerald fire at the roof, carving out a chunk of the ceiling. Red-hot metal and grey rubble crashed down on the Overloads, a cloud of dust rising and choking the corridor.

"Robin!" Starfire shot towards him like an arrow and landed at his side. "You are undamaged?"

"I'll live. We need to move now."

"Cyborg has told me of the plan. I shall fly you to the junction of pipes."

A high pitched note pierced the air, followed by a gravelly buzzing laughter that vibrated the walls.

"You have called for reinforcements. Overload can also call for reinforcements."

_Bzzzzt! _

Arcs of electricity snaked from beneath the rubble and reformed into the two Overloads. More crackling blue white energy lit the corridor. It coalesced into yet another two Overloads. There were four in total now, two on either side of Robin and Starfire.

"Could be a problem," said Robin.

Starfire knitted her brow. "Be ready. We push through."


End file.
